Introduction to Machine Learning (ELL784)


General Information

No one shall be permitted to audit the course for an off-line (contact semester). People are welcome to sit through it, however. For an online semester, the special IITD audit rules apply. Owing to number constraints, we are compelled to open this course primarily to M.Tech, M.S.(R) and Ph.D. students of the EE Department and the Bharti School: for students with the following programme codes:
EEN/EEE/EEA/EET/EES/EEP/EEY/BSY/EEZ/BSZ/JVL/JOP/JTM/JVY
For others: it will be a first-come-first-served process. This course is not open to B.Tech and Dual Degree students, who are supposed to opt for ELL409 (Machine Intelligence and Learning). This is a Departmental Elective (DE), one of the `essential electives' for the Cognitive and Intelligent Systems (CIS) stream of the Computer Technology Group, Department of Electrical Engineering. A general note for all EE Machine Learning courses: students will be permitted to take only one out of the following courses: ELL409 (Machine Intelligence and Learning), and the two CSE Machine Learning courses: COL341 Machine Learning and COL774 Machine Learning. Those who do not fulfil the above criteria, and are found enrolled after the completion of the add-drop period will be forcibly removed from the course.

For those who fulfil the above criterion, you may note a cap of 50, on a first-come-first-served basis.
People are welcome to sit-through the lectures without a formal registration. Please drop an email to the instructor with your preferred email address for communication. You can additionally join the WhatsApp group for the course: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Bv2Si65HR4C4iigTYrXRm8

Credits: 3 (LTP: 3-0-0) [Slot C]

Schedule for Classes:

Tuesday
08:00 am - 09:00 am
MS-Teams (online)
Wednesday
08:00 am - 09:00 am
MS-Teams (online)
Friday
08:00 am - 09:00 am
MS-Teams (online)

Schedule for Examinations:

Minor: 15 February 2022 (Tuesday), 01:30 pm - 02:30 pm.
Scanned scripts to be uploaded on gradescope by 03:00 pm.

Major: 10 April 2022 (Sunday), 08:15 am - 09:15 am. [Venue: LH-408]
The exam will be an in-person exam, conducted as above. Scanned scripts to be uploaded on gradescope by 09:45 am.

Teaching Assistants: 


Books, Papers and other Documentation

Textbook:

Reference Books:

Papers:

Some Interesting Web Links:


Lecture Schedule, Links to Material

Please see the link to the II Sem (Spring) 2020-2021 offering of this course, for an idea of the approximate structure of the course.
S.No.
Topics
Lectures
Instructor
References/Notes
0
Introduction to Machine Learning
01-01
SDR
Flavours of Machine Learning: Unsupervised, Supervised, Reinforcement, Hybrid models. Decision Boundaries: crisp, and non-crisp, optimisation problems. Examples of unsupervised learning.
04 Jan (Tue) {lecture#01}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_k_means_em1_04jan22.mp4, slides_k_means_em1_04jan22.pdf, lecture_notes_k_means_em1_04jan22.pdf
1
Unsupervised Learning:
K-Means, Gaussian Mixture Models, EM
01-06
SDR
[Bishop Chap.9], [Do: Gaussians], [Do: More on Gaussians], [Ng: K-Means], [Ng: GMM], [Ng: EM], [Smyth: EM]
The K-Means algorithm: Introduction. Algorithms: history, flavours. A mathematical formulation of the K-Means algorithm. The Objective function to minimise. The K-Means algorithm: The Objective function to minimise.
04 Jan (Tue) {lecture#01}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_k_means_em1_04jan22.mp4, slides_k_means_em1_04jan22.pdf, lecture_notes_k_means_em1_04jan22.pdf
The basic K-Means algorithm, computation complexity issues: each step, overall. Limitations of K-Means. K-Means: Alternate formulation with a distance threshold.
05 Jan (Wed) {lecture#02}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_k_means_em2_05jan22.mp4, slides_k_means_em2_05jan22.pdf, lecture_notes_k_means_em2_05jan22.pdf
An introduction to Gaussian Mixture Models. The Bayes rule, and Responsibilities. Maximum Likelihood Estimation. Parameter estimation for a mixture of Gaussians, starting with a simple 1-D single Gaussian case. ML-Estimation: the simple case of one 1-D Gaussian, to the general case of K D-dimensional Gaussians.
07 Jan (Fri) {lecture#03}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_k_means_em3_07jan22.mp4, slides_k_means_em3_07jan22.pdf, lecture_notes_k_means_em3_07jan22.pdf
The general case of K D-dimensional Gaussians. Getting stuck, using Lagrange Multipliers. The EM Algorithm for Gaussian Mixtures.
Application: Assignment 1: The Stauffer and Grimson Adaptive Background Subtraction Algorithm. An introduction to the basic set of interesting heuristics!
11 Jan (Tue) {lecture#04}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_k_means_em4_11jan21.mp4, slides_k_means_em4_11jan21.pdf, lecture_notes_k_means_em4_11jan21.pdf
The Stauffer and Grimson algorithm (contd)
12 Jan (Wed) {lecture#05}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_k_means_em5_12jan21.mp4, slides_k_means_em5_12jan21.pdf, lecture_notes_k_means_em5_12jan21.pdf
The Stauffer and Grimson algorithm (contd)
15 Jan (Sat) {lecture#06}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_k_means_em6_eigen1_15jan22.mp4, slides_k_means_em6_15jan22.pdf,
2
Unsupervised Learning: EigenAnalysis:
PCA, LDA and Subspaces
06-10
SDR
[Ng: PCA], [Ng: ICA], [Burges: Dimension Reduction], [Bishop Chap.12]
Introduction to Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors. Properties of Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors.
15 Jan (Sat) {lecture#06}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_k_means_em6_eigen1_15jan22.mp4, slides_eigen1_15jan22.pdf
Properties of Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors (contd).
18 Jan (Tue) {lecture#07}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_eigen2_18jan22.mp4, slides_eigen2_18jan22.pdf
Properties of Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors (contd). Gram-Schmidt Orthogonalisation, other properties.
19 Jan (Wed) {lecture#08}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_eigen3_19jan22.mp4, slides_eigen3_19jan22.pdf
The KL Transform (contd). The SVD and its properties.
21 Jan (Fri) {lecture#09}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_eigen4_21jan22.mp4, slides_eigen4_21jan22.pdf
The SVD and its properties (contd). Application: Assignment 2: Eigenfaces and Fisherfaces
25 Jan (Tue) {lecture#10}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_eigen5_linear1_25jan22.mp4, slides_eigen5_25jan22.pdf
3
Linear Models for Regression, Classification
10-14
SDR
[Bishop Chap.3], [Bishop Chap.4], [Ng: Supervised, Discriminant Analysis], [Ng: Generative]
General introduction to Regression and Classification.
25 Jan (Tue) {lecture#10}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_eigen5_linear1_25jan22.mp4, slides_linear1_25jan22.pdf
Linearity and restricted non-linearity. Maximum Likelihood and Least Squares. The Moore-Penrose Pseudo-inverse.
28 Jan (Fri) {lecture#11}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_linear2_28jan22.mp4, slides_linear2_28jan22.pdf, lecture_notes_linear2_28jan22.pdf
The Moore-Penrose Psuedo-inverse (contd). Regularised Least Squares.
Three approaches to classification: restricted non-linear models (linear combination of possible non-linear feature transformations). Introduction to linear models: equation of a line in terms of the physical significance of the space, and the weights w. Introduction to linear models: equation of a line in terms of the physical significance of the space, and the weights w (contd). Linear Discriminant Functions: 2 classes, and K classes. Fisher's Linear Discriminant (basic build-up). Fisher's Linear Discriminant. Application: Assignment 2: Eigenfaces and Fisherfaces
29 Jan (Sat) {lecture#12}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_linear3_29jan22.mp4, slides_linear3_29jan22.pdf
Introduction to linear models: equation of a line in terms of the physical significance of the space, and the weights w. Introduction to linear models: equation of a line in terms of the physical significance of the space, and the weights w (contd). Linear Discriminant Functions: 2 classes, and K classes. Fisher's Linear Discriminant (basic build-up). Fisher's Linear Discriminant. Application: Assignment 2: Eigenfaces and Fisherfaces
01 Feb (Tue) {lecture#13}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_linear4_01feb22.mp4, slides_linear4_01feb22.pdf
Fisher's Linear Discriminant (contd). Fisher's Linear Discriminant. Application: Assignment 2: Eigenfaces and Fisherfaces
02 Feb (Wed) {lecture#14}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_linear5_svm1_02feb22.mp4, slides_linear5_02feb22.pdf
4
SVMs
14-20
SDR
[Bishop Chap.7], [Alex: SVMs], [Ng: SVMs], [Burges: SVMs], [Bishop Chap.6]
SVMs: the concept of the margin.
02 Feb (Wed) {lecture#14}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_linear5_svm1_02feb22.mp4, slides_svm1_02feb22.pdf
SVMs: the optimisation problem, getting the physical significance of the y = +1 and y = -1 lines. The two `golden' regions for the 2-class perfectly separable case. The generalised canonical representation in terms of one inequation.
04 Feb (Fri) {lecture#15}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_svm2_04feb22.mp4, slides_svm2_04feb22.pdf
The basic SVM optimisation: the primal and the dual problems. An illustration of the kernel trick. Lagrange Multipliers and the KKT Conditions.
08 Feb (Tue) {lecture#16}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_svm3_08feb22.mp4, slides_svm3_08feb22.pdf
Lagrange Multipliers and the KKT Conditions (contd). The Soft-Margin SVM. Abstracting the basic concepts of the hard-margin SVM, to use in a similar formulation. The function to optimise, the inequality constraints, the KKT conditions from Lagrange's theory. The Primal and Dual formulations. An illustration of the kernel trick. Lagrange Multipliers and the KKT Conditions. Introduction to Kernels.
09 Feb (Wed) {lecture#17}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_svm4_09feb22.mp4, slides_svm4_09feb22.pdf
---
Minor
Minor: 15 February 2022 (Tuesday)
---
01:30 pm - 02:30 pm. Scanned scripts to be uploaded by 03:00 pm.
Introduction to Kernels. Kernels in Regression.
18 Feb (Fri) {lecture#18}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_kernel2_18feb22.mp4, lecture_notes_kernel2_18feb22.pdf
Kernels in Regression (contd).
22 Feb (Tue) {lecture#19}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_kernel3_22feb22.mp4, lecture_notes_kernel3_22feb22.pdf
Properties of kernels, Constructing kernels.
The Soft-Margin SVM (contd). The physical significance of the slack parameter in the formulation. The hard margin SVM `template', into which we wish to put, the new soft margin SVM formulation.
23 Feb (Wed) {lecture#20}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_kernel4_svm5_23feb22.mp4, lecture_notes_kernel4_23feb22.pdf, lecture_notes_svm5_23feb22.pdf
5
Neural Networks
21-xx
SDR
[Bishop Chap.5], [DL Chap.6], [DL Chap.9]
Introduction to Neural Networks: the Multi-Layer Perceptron: Conventions, restricted non-linearity.
25 Feb (Fri) {lecture#21}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn1_25feb22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn1_25feb22.pdf
Basic Perceptron
02 Mar (Wed) {lecture#22}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn2_02mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn2_02mar22.pdf
The Basic Perceptron (contd).
Mathematical Basics: `factorisation'
04 Mar (Fri) {lecture#23}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn3_04mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn3_04mar22.pdf
Mathematical Basics: `factorisation' (contd). Second order Taylor series expansion.
05 Mar (Sat) {lecture#24}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn4_05mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn4_05mar22.pdf
Mathematical Interlude (contd): The need for a second order Taylor series expansion. Eigenanalysis of a Hessian.
The Backpropagation Algorithm: some initial points
08 Mar (Tue) {lecture#25}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn5_08mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn5_08mar22.pdf
The Backpropagation Algorithm (contd).
09 Mar (Wed) {lecture#26}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn6_09mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn6_09mar22.pdf
Deep Learning structures and concepts: the hidden layer as a kernel function. The XOR example: a linear model does not suffice.
11 Mar (Fri) {lecture#27}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn7_11mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn7_11mar22.pdf
The XOR example (contd). Other hand-crafted examples, with another activation function. An introduction to the ReLU.
15 Mar (Tue) {lecture#28}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn8_15mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn8_15mar22.pdf
Vector-Matrix representations. Activation Functions: some further discussion. The sigmoid and tanh revisited. ReLU, Leaky ReLU, ELU.
16 Mar (Wed) {lecture#29}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn9_16mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn9_16mar22.pdf
Some small hand-crafted neural network examples.
Some insight into the expressive power of feed-forward neural networks. Some insight into 2-D inputs, and intepreting first layer weights as images, and its importance for CNNs.
19 Mar (Sat) {lecture#30}
SDR
(Make-up lecture for the missed 22 Mar (Tue) lecture)
MS-Teams folder: video_nn10_19mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn10_19mar22.pdf
---
22 Mar (Tue) {no lecture}
SDR
(no class)
Some insight into 2-D inputs, and intepreting first layer weights as images, and its importance for CNNs (contd): an empirical observation, and evidence for the idea of local receptive fields, low-level differentiation/edge features, with some biological motivation as well, from the visual cortex. Some insight into the expressive power of feed-forward neural networks: the insight from shallow networks with a large width. An example with asymmetric values for inputs and outputs for a digital circuit, and estimating neural network parameters, for D input neurons and 2^D neurons in one hidden layer, and one output neuron.
23 March (Wed) {lecture#31}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn11_23mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn11_23mar22.pdf
Some insight into the expressive power of feed-forward neural networks (contd).
A domain-independent introduction to Convolution
25 Mar (Fri) {lecture#32}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn12_25mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn12_25mar22.pdf
A domain-independent introduction to Convolution (contd).
26 Mar (Sat) {lecture#33}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn13_26mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn13_26mar22.pdf
Introducing CNNs: some basic features.
29 Mar (Tue) {lecture#34}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn14_29mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn14_29mar22.pdf
CNN basics. The basic LeNet architecture.
30 Mar (Wed) {lecture#35}
SDR
MS-Teams folder: video_nn15_30mar22.mp4, lecture_notes_nn15_30mar22.pdf
---
Major
05 Apr (Tue) - 12 Apr (Tue)
---
---
xx
Mathematical Basics for Machine Learning
xx-xx
xx
[Burges: Math for ML], [Do, Kolter: Linear Algebra Notes],

The above list is (obviously!) not exhaustive. Other reference material will be announced in the class. The Web has a vast storehouse of tutorial material on AI, Machine Learning, and other related areas.



Assignments

... A combination of theoretical work as well as programming work.
Both will be scrutinized in detail for original work and thoroughness.
For programming assignments, there will be credit for good coding.
Sphagetti coding will be penalized.
Program correctness or good programming alone will not fetch you full credit ... also required are results of extensive experimentation with varying various program parameters, and explaining the results thus obtained.
Assignments will have to be submitted on or before the due date and time.
Late submissions will not be considered at all.
Unfair means will be result in assigning as marks, the number said to have been discovered by the ancient Indians, to both parties (un)concerned.
Assignment 1
Assignment 2
Assignment 3

Examinations and Grading Information

The marks distribution is as follows (out of a total of 100):
Minor I
37
Assignments
25
Major
38
Grand Total
100

ELL784 Marks and Grades (Anonymised)

Some points about examinations, including the honour code:

Instructions for online examinations
Unfair means will be result in assigning as marks, the number said to have been discovered by the ancient Indians, to both parties (un)concerned.

Attendance Requirements:

Attendance requirements for Online Semesters: in accordance with the IIT Delhi rules for an online semester.
Illness policy: illness to be certified by a registered medical practioner.
Attendance in Examinations is Compulsory.


Course Feedback

Link to Course Feedback Form

Sumantra Dutta Roy, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas,
New Delhi - 110 016, INDIA. sumantra@ee.iitd.ac.in