Overview

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Newly updated for 2024! Mathematics for Machine Learning and Data Science is a foundational online program created by DeepLearning.AI and taught by Luis Serrano. In machine learning, you apply math concepts through programming. And so, in this specialization, you’ll apply the math concepts you learn using Python programming in hands-on lab exercises. As a learner in this program, you'll need basic to intermediate Python programming skills to be successful. After completing this course, you will be able to: • Describe and quantify the uncertainty inherent in predictions made by machine learning models, using the concepts of probability, random variables, and probability distributions. • Visually and intuitively understand the properties of commonly used probability distributions in machine learning and data science like Bernoulli, Binomial, and Gaussian distributions • Apply common statistical methods like maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) and maximum a priori estimation (MAP) to machine learning problems • Assess the performance of machine learning models using interval estimates and margin of errors • Apply concepts of statistical hypothesis testing to commonly used tests in data science like AB testing • Perform Exploratory Data Analysis on a dataset to find, validate, and quantify patterns. Many machine learning engineers and data scientists need help with mathematics, and even experienced practitioners can feel held back by a lack of math skills. This Specialization uses innovative pedagogy in mathematics to help you learn quickly and intuitively, with courses that use easy-to-follow visualizations to help you see how the math behind machine learning actually works. We recommend you have a high school level of mathematics (functions, basic algebra) and familiarity with programming (data structures, loops, functions, conditional statements, debugging). Assignments and labs are written in Python but the course introduces all the machine learning libraries you’ll use.

Syllabus

Week 1 - Introduction to Probability and Probability Distributions

In this week, you will learn about probability of events and various rules of probability to correctly do arithmetic with probabilities. You will learn the concept of conditional probability and the key idea behind Bayes theorem. In lesson 2, we generalize the concept of probability of events to probability distribution over random variables. You will learn about some common probability distributions like the Binomial distribution and the Normal distribution.

Week 2 - Describing probability distributions and probability distributions with multiple variables

This week you will learn about different measures to describe probability distributions as well as any dataset. These include measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode), variance, skewness, and kurtosis. The concept of the expected value of a random variable is introduced to help you understand each of these measures. You will also learn about some visual tools to describe data and distributions. In lesson 2, you will learn about the probability distribution of two or more random variables using concepts like joint distribution, marginal distribution, and conditional distribution. You will end the week by learning about covariance: a generalization of variance to two or more random variables.

Week 3 - Sampling and Point estimation

This week shifts its focus from probability to statistics. You will start by learning the concept of a sample and a population and two fundamental results from statistics that concern samples and population: the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem. In lesson 2, you will learn the first and the simplest method of estimation in statistics: point estimation. You will see how maximum likelihood estimation, the most common point estimation method, works and how regularization helps prevent overfitting. You'll then learn how Bayesian Statistics incorporates the concept of prior beliefs into the way data is evaluated and conclusions are reached.

Week 4 - Confidence Intervals and Hypothesis testing

This week you will learn another estimation method called interval estimation. The most common interval estimates are confidence intervals and you will see how they are calculated and how to correctly interpret them. In lesson 2, you will learn about hypothesis testing where estimates are formulated as a hypothesis and then tested in the presence of available evidence or a sample of data. You will learn the concept of p-value that helps in making a decision about a hypothesis test and also learn some common tests like the t-test, two-sample t-test, and the paired t-test. You will end the week with an interesting application of hypothesis testing in data science: A/B testing.