Since you ask this very basic question, it looks like it’s worth specifying what Machine Learning itself is. Machine Learning is a class of algorithms which is data-driven, i.e. unlike “normal” algorithms it is the data that “tells” what the “good answer” is. Example: a hypothetical non-machine learning algorithm for face detection in images would … Read more
Judging from the examples you provide, I’m assuming that by ANNs, you mean multilayer feed-forward networks (FF nets for short), such as multilayer perceptrons, because those are in direct competition with SVMs. One specific benefit that these models have over SVMs is that their size is fixed: they are parametric models, while SVMs are non-parametric. … Read more
In the neural network terminology: one epoch = one forward pass and one backward pass of all the training examples batch size = the number of training examples in one forward/backward pass. The higher the batch size, the more memory space you’ll need. number of iterations = number of passes, each pass using [batch size] … Read more
I think that biases are almost always helpful. In effect, a bias value allows you to shift the activation function to the left or right, which may be critical for successful learning. It might help to look at a simple example. Consider this 1-input, 1-output network that has no bias: The output of the network … Read more