Machine Learning, (Paperback)

Machine Learning for Undergraduate Students (Second Edition) is a comprehensive guide designed to make the complex world of machine learning accessible to beginners. This book introduces foundational concepts, starting with the need for machine learning, its relationship with other fields, and its diverse applications. Through a structured exploration of essential topics, readers will gain a clear understanding of data analysis, including univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistics, as well as techniques like feature engineering and dimensionality reduction.

Building on these basics, the book delves into core machine learning methodologies. Topics include similarity-based learning, regression analysis, decision tree algorithms, and Bayesian learning. The chapters also introduce artificial neural networks, explaining their biological inspiration, architecture, and applications. Advanced subjects such as clustering algorithms, proximity measures, and reinforcement learning-covering Q-Learning and SARSA-are presented with clarity, ensuring a thorough understanding of each concept.

The enhanced second edition features two appendices. Appendix A covers a description of learning paradigms that covers batch and online learning approaches, along with advanced few-shot and one-shot learning techniques. Learners explore how models adapt to different data scenarios-from processing complete datasets to learning from just one or a few examples-using various learning styles, including metric learning, meta-learning, prototype-based methods, and attention-based approaches across diverse applications in healthcare, robotics, and computer vision. Appendix B dwells on several numerical exercises for the learner to practice.