Linear Algebra 101 for AI/ML

Linear Algebra 101 for AI/ML(trybackprop.com)

79 points by trybackprop 1 year ago | 14 comments

freeqaz 1 year ago |

Super awesome! A lot of this was review for me after watching 3blue1brown's series on Linear Algebra but definitely some new stuff in here. I would definitely recommend this series to anybody looking to learn!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDPD3MizzM2xVFit...

trybackprop 1 year ago | |

I love 3Blue1Brown's Essence of Linear Algebra series! Yeah, I wrote this article knowing it'd be review for a lot of folks, but I wanted to at least get readers on the same page before diving deeper into the more interesting aspects of ML. Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for part 2 of my Linear Algebra 101 series.

trybackprop 1 year ago |

Was not expecting to be on the front page of HN! Please feel free to leave feedback on the website (i.e., mobile experience, content, quiz, etc.) Thanks!

ofrzeta 1 year ago | |

I didn't understand why a vector is defined as a = torch.tensor([[3], [4], [5], [5]]) and then, a paragraph below, it's a = torch.tensor([1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 8.0]) or b = torch.tensor([1.0, 0.5, 0.25, 0.125])

Also someone might be puzzled by the use of the tensor method while the notion of a tensor has not yet been introduced. I understand that it's quite difficult to introduce all concepts at once, though.

Anyway, thanks for the resource and keep it up!

trybackprop 1 year ago | | |

thank you for the feedback! Ah, I can see how switching from column form to row form right away is confusing, especially if someone isn't familiar with all the notation and the code yet. Same with introducing the tensor method without talking about what a tensor is until later. Thanks for pointing this out! I'll make some adjustments.

devthane 1 year ago | |

Just finished working through part 1 and subscribed! Thank you so much! I've always been interested in learning ML but the math has been the hurdle for me that seems to have been assumed knowledge elsewhere. Saw the title and was immediately hooked! Can't wait for more.

trybackprop 1 year ago | | |

I'm working on this series of articles for folks like you! So glad to hear that you found it useful. Stay tuned for part 2!

JSR_FDED 1 year ago |

Excellent, thank you for making this! Your way of explaining things really resonates with me.

trybackprop 1 year ago | |

Thank you for the kind words! I currently working on Part 2 of the series (dot products, matrix multiplication, similarity search) and hope to have it out soon. Hope you continue reading!

coolThingsFirst 1 year ago |

Very well written, please keep doing this.

trybackprop 1 year ago | |

I just posted part 2: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40846513. It covers the dot product and embeddings and features more visuals and two interactive playgrounds to reinforce the concepts learned. Hope you find it useful.

trybackprop 1 year ago | |

Thank you for the kind words! Please feel free to leave any feedback if you have any. Thanks!

mliker 1 year ago |

This was a fantastic guide! Subscribed!

trybackprop 1 year ago | |

Thanks! Part 2 (in the works) will cover visual explanations of the dot product and matrix multiplication, and I'll discuss how to build a visual similarity search engine. Stay tuned!