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
The Flow of Information in a Network
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- Deep Learning, Ian Goodfellow, Yoshua Bengio, Aaron Courville, 2016 (MIT Press) - A foundational textbook covering the mathematical and conceptual basics of neural networks, including detailed explanations of forward propagation in feedforward architectures.
- Neural Networks and Deep Learning (Course 1 of the Deep Learning Specialization), Andrew Ng, Kian Katanforoosh, Younes Bensouda Mourri, 2017 (DeepLearning.AI) - An introductory online course providing clear explanations and practical insights into neural network architectures and the forward propagation process.
- Neural Networks and Deep Learning, Michael A. Nielsen, 2015 (Determination Press) - A freely available online book that offers a gentle yet mathematically thorough introduction to neural networks, with clear steps for forward propagation.