Learning Styles

• Supervised Learning
• Unsupervised Learning
• Reinforcement Learning

Supervised Learning
For each observation of the predictor measurement(s) XI, i = 1, . . ., n there is an associated
response measurement YI.
The task is to fit a model that relates the response to the predictors, with the aim of accurately
predicting the response for future observations (prediction) or better understanding the
relationship between the response and the predictors (inference).
In other words, Supervised learning is learning from a training set of labeled examples provided
by a knowledgeable external supervisor
Variables can be characterized as either quantitative or qualitative (or categorical)
Examples of quantitative variables - person’s age, height, or income, value of a house, stock
price
In contrast, qualitative variables take on values in one of K different classes, or categories.
Examples of qualitative variables - A Person’s gender (male or female), brand of product
purchased (brand A, B, or C) whether a person defaults on a debt (yes or no), or a Fever
diagnosis (Flu, Malaria, Dengue.).
Problems with a quantitative response are referred as regression problems.
Problems with a qualitative response are often referred to as classification problems.
Difference between Classification and Regression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i04Pfrb71vk
Quiz
Watch the video and mention which of these belongs to classification problem?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t18YC5rLyWg&list=PLAwxTw4SYaPkQXg8TkVdIvYv4HfLG
7SiH&index=9
Unsupervised Learning
Unsupervised learning describes a situation in which for every observation i = 1, . . . , n, we
observe a vector of measurements xi but no associated response yi.
Unsupervised learning typically finds structure hidden in collections of unlabeled data.
One statistical learning tool that can be used in this setting is cluster analysis, or clustering.
(Example: Clustering can be applied in a market segmentation study)

Reinforcement Learning
Reinforcement learning is learning what to do—how to map situations to actions—so as to
maximize a numerical reward signal.
The learner is not told which actions to take, but instead must discover which actions yield the
most reward by trying them.
Example:
An adaptive controller adjusts parameters of a petroleum refinery’s operation in real time. The
controller optimizes the yield/cost/quality trade-off based on specified marginal costs without
sticking strictly to the set points originally suggested by engineers