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I mean...you can't make math simpler. like...math is math. you can create resources that make it easier to teach math (and for the record high quality textbooks
by mathperson 9y ago
I mean...you can't make math simpler. like...math is math. you can create resources that make it easier to teach math (and for the record high quality textbooks on AI/ML ABOUND). I think you want software and libraries so you can build things without understanding the math. To some degree this already possible (see my english major linkedin friends playing withs sci-kit etc etc). Fundamentally though, I think you need at least some basic understanding of the mathematics to interpret results/create new ideas. Arguing otherwise is like saying you can code without knowing what a queue is...I mean sure you can probably create something that compiles and runs but your horizons will be more narrow than someone with a full computer science education and grounding. just like trying to do ml without at least some understanding of the math is like a blind man trying to open a door.
case-in-point: I am on hn right now because my research is going badly because I am using another researcher's code and I don't fully understand the correspondence between the paper and the code. I am getting terrible results on some multi-class classification (i.e. approximately random). I am not sure if I am using some wrong parameters or because the signal I am looking for doesn't exist in the data. Not knowing at least some mathematics would make this a LOT harder
- unsatchmo 9y agoExcellent job mathing, mathperson. May the math be with you!
- gaius 9y agomean...you can't make math simpler. like...math is math. Notation makes a huge difference. LinAlg is a good example of this. And a PL is notation.
- jakobegger 9y agoSimpler notation might make it easier to implement algorithms without fully understanding them. Not sure how much good is going to come from that. But if you fully understand the problem, notation is not an issue.
- gaius 9y agoI disagree. Try using Roman numerals for example. Or doing linear programming or any sort of optimisation without using matrix notation.
- mathperson 9y agommm I do see your point. Notation can frame how we think. I hate to be that guy though...but I am a bit triggered by calling linear algebra LinAlg. It is like calling California Cali! Or Analysis -> Anal.
- jakobegger 9y agoRe: "I don't fully understand the correspondence between the paper and the code" Have you tried contacting the paper's author(s)? Preferably the PhD student that did the actual work? I used to do that when I couldn't make sense of a paper. Not all authors will respond, some might brush you off with a generic remark to read the appendix or whatever. But it's worth a try. In one case, the author frankly told me that the code didn't work as well as it sounded in the paper -- the algorithm was so instable that it wasn't very useful. But they couldn't have written that in the paper, or it might not have been accepted.
- mathperson 9y agoYeah I am collaborating directly with the primary author...but I think you might be right I would have gotten more helpful advice for the graduate student who spent like a year writing this. Good advice-I'll keep it in mind for future troubles. Thank you!