Preliminaries
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To prepare for your dive into deep learning,
you will need a few survival skills:
(i) techniques for storing and manipulating data;
(ii) libraries for ingesting
and preprocessing data from a variety of sources;
(iii) knowledge of the basic linear algebraic operations
that we apply to high-dimensional data elements;
(iv) just enough calculus to determine
which direction to adjust each parameter
in order to decrease the loss function;
(v) the ability to automatically compute derivatives
so that you can forget much of
the calculus you just learned;
(vi) some basic fluency in probability,
our primary language for reasoning under uncertainty;
and (vii) some aptitude for finding answers
in the official documentation when you get stuck.
In short, this chapter provides a rapid introduction
to the basics that you will need to follow
most of the technical content in this book.
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