Introduction

In the preceding chapter, we explored three machine learning algorithms to solve supervised learning tasks, either for classification or regression. In this chapter, we will explore one of the most popular machine learning algorithms nowadays, artificial neural networks, which belong to a subgroup of machine learning called deep learning.

Artificial neural networks (ANNs), also known as Multilayer Perceptrons (MLPs), have become increasingly popular mostly because they present a complex algorithm that can approach almost any challenging data problem. Even though the theory was developed decades back, during the 1940s, such networks are becoming more popular now, thanks to all the improvements in technology that allow for the gathering of large amounts of data, as well as the developments in computer infrastructure that allow the training of complex algorithms with large amounts of data.

Due to this, the following chapter will focus on introducing ANNs,...