Introduction to linear algebra
Let’s start by first understanding scalars, vectors, and matrices:
- Scalars: A scalar is a single numerical value that usually comes from the real domain in most ML applications. Examples of scalars in NLP include the frequency of a word in a text corpus.
- Vectors: A vector is a collection of numerical elements. Each of these elements can be termed as an entry, component, or dimension, and the count of these components defines the vector’s dimensionality. Within NLP, a vector could hold components related to elements such as word frequency, sentiment ranking, and more. NLP and ML are two domains that have reaped substantial benefits from mathematical disciplines, particularly linear algebra and probability theory. These foundational tools aid in evaluating the correlation between variables and are at the heart of numerous NLP and ML models. This segment presents a detailed primer on linear algebra and probability theory, along...