The Machine learning reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Machine learning

Machine learning is an area of artificial intelligence involving developing techniques to allow computers to "learn". More specifically, machine learning is a method for creating computer programs by the analysis of data sets, rather than the intuition of engineers.

Machine learning algorithms are organized into a taxonomy, based on the desired outcome of the algorithm. Common algorithm types include:

• supervised learning --- where the algorithm generates a function that maps inputs to desired outputs.
• unsupervised learning --- where the algorithm generates a model for a set of inputs.
• reinforcement learning --- where the algorithm learns a policy of how to act given an observation of the world.
• learning to learn --- where the algorithm learns its own inductive bias based on previous experience.

The performance and computational analysis of machine learning algorithms is a branch of statistics known as learning theory.

See also Important publications in machine learning.

Bibliography

• Mitchell, T. (1997). Machine Learning, McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070428077