Contents
Why do we use stochastic gradient descent?
Gradient Descent is the most common optimization algorithm and the foundation of how we train an ML model. But it can be really slow for large datasets. That’s why we use a variant of this algorithm known as Stochastic Gradient Descent to make our model learn a lot faster.
Is there anything better than gradient descent?
An interesting alternative to gradient descent is the population-based training algorithms such as the evolutionary algorithms (EA) and the particle swarm optimisation (PSO).
Who invented stochastic gradient descent?
Louis Augustin Cauchy
Gradient descent was invented by French mathematician Louis Augustin Cauchy in 1847.
How is stochastic gradient descent used in machine learning?
Stochastic Gradient Descent — Clearly Explained !! Stochastic gradient descent is a very popular and common algorithm used in various Machine Learning algorithms, most importantly forms the basis of Neural Networks. In this article, I have tried my best to explain it in detail, yet in simple terms.
How is the same problem solved by gradient descent?
The same problem can be solved by gradient descent technique. “Gradient descent is an iterative algorithm, that starts from a random point on a function and travels down its slope in steps until it reaches the lowest point of that function.”
How to find the gradient of an objective function?
Find the slope of the objective function with respect to each parameter/feature. In other words, compute the gradient of the function. Pick a random initial value for the parameters. (To clarify, in the parabola example, differentiate “y” with respect to “x”.
How to calculate step sizes for gradient descent?
If we had more features like x1, x2 etc., we take the partial derivative of “y” with respect to each of the features.) Update the gradient function by plugging in the parameter values. Calculate the step sizes for each feature as : step size = gradient * learning rate. Repeat steps 3 to 5 until gradient is almost 0.