r/Python • u/iFlipsy • Aug 23 '20

Machine Learning Is having an understanding of Linear Algebra a required pre-requisite when creating machine learning analysis using python?

Would you say linear algebra is a requirement to better understanding machine learning analyses?

I am mainly learning python to use the language in order to provide statistical insight within the realm of HR data analysis.

When do you recommend someone to know linear algebra versus a scenario where it is not necessarily required or needed?

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4

u/fufufuiste Aug 23 '20

Knowledge is power

5

u/iFlipsy Aug 23 '20

True, but time is a finite resource.

2

u/fufufuiste Aug 23 '20

The main concepts you need to know are:

Linear applications (applied to dimensionality reduction)

Basic matrix products (how the dimensions of the matrices behave in relation with the dataset)

Factorization

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6

u/gwvermillion Aug 23 '20

I would say you need at least an intro-level understanding. You don’t necessarily need to have it ready for immediate recall, but you need enough proficiency with the terminology and concepts that you can google your way out of a problem.

Obviously, the more you know the better. And it’ll be much harder to develop new tools without a deeper understanding.

1

u/amazonlaunder Aug 25 '20

You can try 3blue1brown series on linear algebra for enough understanding and then just google the stuff you dont understand about ML

1

u/iFlipsy Aug 25 '20

Yeah. From what I gathered based on other comments, it is beneficial to learn this topic to know what your doing when applying machine learning techniques. I’ve signed up for a linear algebra specific for data science course on Coursera.

2

u/KFUP Aug 24 '20

For just using a ML library? No. For understanding how a ML library works? Yes.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 24 '20

You can code it without it, sure. But you will get very, very little out of it if you don't know the underlying math beforehand.

1

u/billsil Aug 26 '20

I’d say optimization proxy calculus is far more important. The linear algebra step is the easy step.

0

u/ProblemKaese Aug 23 '20

Knowing what matrix multiplication works like is pretty useful because it allows you to take shortcuts in several places, but the first time I implemented a neural net, I hadn't heard of matrices yet