Vibes Based Learning Theory Reading Group

​Come join the vibes based learning theory reading group! We meet once every other week to gain a better understanding of the mathematics behind learning systems - covering deep learning, AI, and cognitive science.

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​We’re here to learn from each other and satisfy our curiosity. As such, we aim to gain a general understanding of the materials we read (i.e., the vibe), and not to cover every detail of proofs or technical arguments. Individuals from all backgrounds and levels of subject matter expertise are welcome, though a general familiarity with mathematics (at the undergraduate level) is encouraged.

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​During this first meeting, we will be starting with foundations - the ins and outs of convex optimization. While almost all deep learning optimization problems are non-convex, many of the intuitions and algorithms are inspired from analysis of convex problems (i.e., those problems where any local optimum is guaranteed to be a global optimum).

We will read Chapter 9 of Convex Optimization by Boyd and Vandenberghe. The textbook can be found here: https://web.stanford.edu/~boyd/cvxbook/bv_cvxbook.pdf

We will also walk through exercise 9.30 together at the end of the chapter.