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A trained model is a set of rules to go from, for example, an image to a tag identifying the object it shows. That's an algorithm. It is not "statistical regre

A trained model is a set of rules to go from, for example, an image to a tag identifying the object it shows. That's an algorithm. It is not "statistical regression", even if that is the method that was used in its creation. The whole its-just-statistics-shtick is what's getting out of hand. People are just mindlessly repeating the point because it seemed smart when it was first made. Hint: it no longer does, especially if you use it wrong.

melony 5y ago
By that logic, most of mathematics are "algorithms" because they map one space to another. That is absolute nonsense. An algorithm is a sequence of steps, an implementation. A trained model is only an algorithm in the most generous interpretation of the term. You cannot discount the underlying mathematics of it, not matter how unscrutable it may be. A distribution implemented in Python doesn't magically become any less statistical just because it is executed on a CPU.
- feoren 5y ago
  1. Multiply your input number by 7 2. Add three 3. Square the result 4. Take this result as your final number There's an algorithm for f(x) = (7x + 3)^2. Similarly, any map from one space to another is an algorithm if it's describable on paper. Every mathematical proof is analogous to an algorithm in important ways. Math is not "equal to" algorithms, in the sense that two different algorithms can describe the same underlying math, but every description of any math essentially has to be an algorithm. The only parts of math that would not fit would be anything non-constructible, but we know we are limited to exploring and describing only 0% of that world since our descriptions (algorithms) are countably infinite, and there are constructivists who believe non-constructible things don't exist in any meaningful sense. So, yes, most (or all) of the practice of mathematics is algorithms. Why are we trying to gatekeep this word?
  - daniel-cussen 5y ago
    In addition natural numbers are algorithms, in that numbers are functions of no inputs, i.e. 3 is f()=3, similar to random()=[0,1]. And functions are a subset of algorithms. My word for algorithms that aren't closed-form functions, my life's work, is "repetigrams" because they involve repetition in the form of iteration or recursion.
- jnwatson 5y ago
  Math consists of proofs. Every proof corresponds to a computer program, by Curry-Howard Correspondence. Every program is an implementation of an algorithm. Hence, math consists of things that correspond to implementations of algorithms.

melony 5y ago

By that logic, most of mathematics are "algorithms" because they map one space to another. That is absolute nonsense. An algorithm is a sequence of steps, an implementation. A trained model is only an algorithm in the most generous interpretation of the term. You cannot discount the underlying mathematics of it, not matter how unscrutable it may be. A distribution implemented in Python doesn't magically become any less statistical just because it is executed on a CPU.

feoren 5y ago
1. Multiply your input number by 7 2. Add three 3. Square the result 4. Take this result as your final number There's an algorithm for f(x) = (7x + 3)^2. Similarly, any map from one space to another is an algorithm if it's describable on paper. Every mathematical proof is analogous to an algorithm in important ways. Math is not "equal to" algorithms, in the sense that two different algorithms can describe the same underlying math, but every description of any math essentially has to be an algorithm. The only parts of math that would not fit would be anything non-constructible, but we know we are limited to exploring and describing only 0% of that world since our descriptions (algorithms) are countably infinite, and there are constructivists who believe non-constructible things don't exist in any meaningful sense. So, yes, most (or all) of the practice of mathematics is algorithms. Why are we trying to gatekeep this word?
- daniel-cussen 5y ago
  In addition natural numbers are algorithms, in that numbers are functions of no inputs, i.e. 3 is f()=3, similar to random()=[0,1]. And functions are a subset of algorithms. My word for algorithms that aren't closed-form functions, my life's work, is "repetigrams" because they involve repetition in the form of iteration or recursion.
jnwatson 5y ago
Math consists of proofs. Every proof corresponds to a computer program, by Curry-Howard Correspondence. Every program is an implementation of an algorithm. Hence, math consists of things that correspond to implementations of algorithms.