Glossary

The F-Score, also known as the F1 Score, is a metric used to evaluate the performance of machine learning models, particularly in classification tasks. It provides a single measure that balances precision and recall, making it especially useful when there is an uneven class distribution or when both false positives and false negatives carry significant consequences. The F-Score ranges from 0 to 1, with a score closer to 1 indicating better performance, reflecting both the accuracy of positive predictions and the model's ability to capture all relevant positive cases.

False negative refers to an error in a binary classification model where the model incorrectly predicts the negative class when the actual class is positive. In other words, a false negative occurs when the model fails to detect a condition or attribute that is present, leading to an incorrect assumption that it is absent. The meaning of false negatives is critical in applications where failing to identify positive instances can have serious consequences, such as in medical diagnoses, fraud detection, or security systems.

False positive refers to an error in a binary classification model where the model incorrectly predicts the positive class when the actual class is negative. In other words, a False Positive occurs when the model indicates that a particular condition or attribute is present when it is absent. The meaning of false positives is critical in various applications where incorrect positive predictions can lead to significant consequences, such as in medical diagnoses, fraud detection, or security systems.

Feature engineering is the process of selecting, transforming, and creating new features (variables) from raw data to improve the performance of machine learning models. The goal of feature engineering is to enhance the model's predictive power by identifying the most relevant and informative features, or by generating new ones that better represent the underlying patterns in the data. This process is crucial for building effective models, as the quality of features directly impacts the accuracy, interpretability, and efficiency of machine learning algorithms. Feature engineering is widely used in various applications such as predictive modeling, customer segmentation, and recommendation systems.

Feature learning refers to a set of techniques in machine learning that enable a model to automatically discover the representations or features needed for performing a specific task, such as classification or prediction. Instead of relying on manually engineered features, the model learns to extract the most relevant features from raw data during the training process. The meaning of feature learning is tied to its ability to improve the accuracy and generalization of machine learning models by allowing them to identify and focus on the most informative aspects of the data.

Feature selection is the process of identifying and selecting the most relevant variables from a dataset that significantly contribute to the performance of a machine learning model. The objective is to enhance model accuracy, reduce overfitting, and improve interpretability by focusing on the most important data attributes while removing irrelevant or redundant features. This process is critical in various machine learning tasks, such as classification, regression, and clustering, where the quality of the selected features directly influences the model's success.

Feed-forward neural networks refer to a type of artificial neural network where connections between nodes (neurons) do not form cycles. In this type of network, data flows in one direction from the input layer through the hidden layers (if any) to the output layer. The meaning of feed-forward neural networks is closely associated with their simplicity and effectiveness in tasks such as classification, regression, and pattern recognition.

Fine-tuning is a process in machine learning where a pre-trained model is further trained on a new, often smaller, dataset to adapt it to a specific task or domain. The goal of fine-tuning is to leverage the knowledge the model has already acquired during its initial training on a large dataset and make slight adjustments to optimize its performance on the new task. This technique is widely used in transfer learning, where models like neural networks are fine-tuned to perform well in specialized applications such as text classification, image recognition, or sentiment analysis.

Forward propagation is the process in a neural network where input data is passed through the network’s layers to generate an output. During this process, each layer of the network applies a set of weights and an activation function to the input it receives, transforming it and passing it to the next layer. The final output of forward propagation is used to make predictions or decisions based on the input data. Forward propagation is a fundamental operation in neural networks and forms the basis for both training and inference.