Adaptive linear neurons and the convergence of learning

In this section, we will take a look at another type of single-layer neural network: ADAptive LInear NEuron (Adaline). Adaline was published, only a few years after Frank Rosenblatt's perceptron algorithm, by Bernard Widrow and his doctoral student Tedd Hoff, and can be considered as an improvement on the latter (B. Widrow et al. Adaptive "Adaline" neuron using chemical "memistors". Number Technical Report 1553-2. Stanford Electron. Labs. Stanford, CA, October 1960). The Adaline algorithm is particularly interesting because it illustrates the key concept of defining and minimizing cost functions, which will lay the groundwork for understanding more advanced machine learning algorithms for classification, such as logistic regression and support vector machines, as well as regression models that we will discuss in future chapters.

The key difference between the Adaline rule (also known as the Widrow-Hoff rule...