Introduction to Neural Networks
Chapter 1: Foundations of Neural Networks
From Biological to Artificial Neurons
Weights and Biases: The Network's Parameters
Activation Functions: Introducing Non-Linearity
Structuring Networks: Layers and Connections
A Simple Feedforward Network Example
Practice: Calculating Neuron Output
Quiz for Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Preparing Data for Neural Networks
Understanding Input Data Representation
Feature Scaling: Normalization and Standardization
Handling Categorical Data: Encoding Techniques
Creating Data Batches for Training
Splitting Data: Training, Validation, and Test Sets
Hands-on Practical: Preprocessing Sample Data
Quiz for Chapter 2
Chapter 3: Forward Propagation: Generating Predictions
The Flow of Information in a Network
Linear Transformation: Weighted Sum Calculation
Applying Activation Functions Layer-wise
Matrix Operations for Efficient Computation
Calculating the Final Output Prediction
Hands-on Practical: Implementing Forward Propagation
Quiz for Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Training: Backpropagation and Gradient Descent
Measuring Performance: Loss Functions
The Concept of Gradient Descent
Backpropagation: Calculating Gradients Efficiently
Updating Weights and Biases
Learning Rate and Its Importance
Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) and Variants
Practice: Calculating Gradients Manually
Quiz for Chapter 4
Chapter 5: Building and Training a Basic Neural Network
Setting up the Network Architecture
Initializing Weights and Biases
The Training Loop Structure
Implementing the Training Step
Monitoring Training Progress
Introduction to Deep Learning Frameworks (TensorFlow/PyTorch)
Hands-on Practical: Training a Simple Classifier
Quiz for Chapter 5
Chapter 6: Improving Network Performance and Generalization
Understanding Overfitting and Underfitting
The Role of Validation Sets
Regularization Techniques: L1 and L2
Dropout: Randomly Deactivating Neurons
Early Stopping: Halting Training Optimally
Hyperparameter Tuning Strategies
Practice: Applying Regularization
Quiz for Chapter 6
A Simple Feedforward Network Example
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- Deep Learning, Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio, and Aaron Courville, 2016 (MIT Press) - Authoritative textbook covering the mathematical and conceptual foundations of feedforward neural networks, including their architecture and forward propagation.
- Neural Networks and Deep Learning, Michael A. Nielsen, 2015 (Determination Press) - An acclaimed online book providing an accessible introduction to neural networks, including detailed explanations of feedforward networks and the mechanics of forward propagation.
- CS230: Deep Learning - Lecture Notes, Andrew Ng and the Stanford CS230 Staff, 2018-2019 (Stanford University) - Official course materials from a leading university course, providing foundational explanations of neural network architectures, including feedforward networks and their computational flow.
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