Q.

1 Define Machine Learning

Machine Learning (ML):

●​ Machine → A device or system created by humans to perform tasks.​

●​ Learning → The process of acquiring knowledge, behaviors, skills, or

values.​

●​ Machine Learning → A computer system’s ability to learn from

experience, using algorithms and statistical models, by analyzing patterns
in data and improving its performance over time.​

Simple Definition:

Machine Learning is when computers learn from data (experience) to

perform tasks better without being explicitly programmed.

Example:

●​ When you type on your phone, it predicts the next word → the system
learns from previous text patterns.​

✅ Applications of Machine Learning

Machine learning is applied in almost every field of life. Below are key domains
and how they benefit from ML:

📊 1. Banking and Finance

●​ Challenge: Credit card fraud and customer churn.​

●​ How ML helps:​

○​ Detects fraudulent transactions by identifying abnormal patterns.​

 ○​ Analyzes customer behavior and helps banks retain customers by
offering personalized plans.​

🛡 2. Insurance
●​ Challenge: Managing risks and claims.​

●​ How ML helps:​

○​ Predicts customer risk during onboarding by analyzing past data.​

○​ Improves claims management by spotting unusual claims or

predicting fraud.​

🏥 3. Healthcare
●​ Challenge: Monitoring patient health.​

●​ How ML helps:​

○​ Uses data from wearable devices to predict health issues in real

time.​

○​ Alerts doctors or users if a critical health condition is detected,

allowing preventive action.​

📦 Other Examples (Additional Applications):

●​ Self-driving cars: Learns from environment data to navigate safely.​

●​ AI personal assistants (e.g., Google Assistant): Understands speech

and schedules tasks.​
 ●​ Recommendation systems (e.g., Amazon): Suggests products based on
user preferences.​

●​ Spam filters: Detects and classifies unwanted emails.​

●​ Image recognition: Identifies objects, faces, and scenes in pictures.​

✅ Key Points to Remember

1.​ Machine + Learning = ML → Computers learning from data.​

2.​ ML is everywhere → Finance, insurance, healthcare, transport,

e-commerce.​

3.​ ML helps in prediction, classification, risk management, and

personalization.​

4.​ Example → Fraud detection, health monitoring, self-driving cars.​

5.​ It uses algorithms like supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement

learning.​

Here’s a detailed, point-wise, easy-to-remember explanation based on the

Bayes’ theorem and concept learning content from the PDF you uploaded
(Unit 3 – Bayesian Concept Learning):
Q.2 Bayes’ Theorem – Introduction
●​ What is it?​
A mathematical formula that helps compute the probability of a hypothesis
being true given some evidence.​

●​ Key idea:​
We update our belief (probability) about a hypothesis when we see new
data.​

●​ Who discovered it?​

Named after Thomas Bayes.​

●​ Used in:​
Classification, decision making, spam filtering, medical diagnosis,
recommendation systems.​

✅ Important Terms in Bayes’ Theorem

➤ Prior Probability (P(H))

●​ Represents what we believe about the hypothesis before seeing any new
data.​

●​ Example → Probability that a patient has a malignant tumor, based on

general population statistics.​

➤ Likelihood (P(X|H))

●​ The probability of observing the evidence given that the hypothesis is true.​

●​ Example → If a patient has a malignant tumor, what’s the chance the lab
test shows positive?​
➤ Posterior Probability (P(H|X))

●​ The updated belief after observing the evidence.​

●​ It combines prior knowledge and the new evidence.​

●​ Example → After seeing the lab test result, what’s the chance the patient
actually has a malignant tumor?​

➤ Evidence (P(X))

●​ The total probability of observing the evidence, regardless of which

hypothesis is true.​

✅ Bayes’ Theorem Formula

P(H∣X)=P(X∣H)×P(H)P(X)P(H|X) = \frac{P(X|H) \times P(H)}{P(X)}

●​ Posterior = (Likelihood × Prior) / Evidence​

Here’s another example of Bayes’ Theorem, explained in an

easy-to-remember, point-wise format, different from the tumor example:

✅ Example – Email Spam Filtering

Scenario:

You receive an email and want to check whether it’s spam or not based on
certain keywords like “Buy now”, “Free offer”, etc.
 ➤ Given Information:

●​ 20% of all emails are spam → P(Spam) = 0.20​

●​ 80% of all emails are not spam → P(Not Spam) = 0.80​

●​ If an email is spam, there’s a 70% chance it contains the keyword “Buy

now” → P(Buy now | Spam) = 0.70​

●​ If an email is not spam, there’s a 10% chance it contains the keyword “Buy
now” → P(Buy now | Not Spam) = 0.10​

➤ Question:

If an email contains the keyword “Buy now”, what is the probability that it’s
actually spam?

That is, find P(Spam | Buy now).

✅ Key Points to Remember:
✔ Even though only 20% of all emails are spam, the presence of the keyword
“Buy now” makes it much more likely to be spam.​
✔ The prior probability (P(Spam)) represents how common spam is in general.​
✔ The likelihood (P(Buy now | Spam)) represents how often spam emails use
that keyword.​
✔ The posterior probability tells us how suspicious the email is after seeing the
keyword.

✅ Applications
✔ Spam filtering in email systems​
✔ Identifying phishing attempts​
✔ Recommender systems analyzing user activity​
✔ Fraud detection in financial transactions

✅ Key Insights
✔ Bayes’ theorem helps update beliefs based on new evidence.​
✔ Prior knowledge is critical in determining the outcome.​
✔ Likelihood shows how strongly the evidence supports the hypothesis.​
✔ Posterior gives the final updated probability after considering evidence.​
✔ Even with accurate tests, rare conditions can still yield unexpected results.

✅ Use Cases
✔ Medical diagnosis (e.g., cancer, diseases)​
✔ Spam filtering in emails​
✔ Sentiment analysis in social media​
✔ Recommendation systems (e.g., shopping sites)​
✔ Decision-making in AI models

✅ Final Summary – Easy to Remember

●​ Prior → What you knew before seeing the data.​

●​ Likelihood → How well the data supports the hypothesis.​

●​ Posterior → What you believe after seeing the data.​

●​ Formula → Posterior = (Likelihood × Prior) / Evidence.​

Q.3 Types of Machine Learning – Overview
Machine learning can be grouped into three main types, depending on how the
learning is done and how the data is used:

1.​ Supervised Learning​

2.​ Unsupervised Learning​

3.​ Reinforcement Learning​

Each type has its own use cases, methods, and examples.

✅ 1. Supervised Learning
👉 Also called predictive learning.
✅ Definition:
●​ The model learns from labeled data (input + correct output).​

●​ It uses past data to predict or classify new data.​

✅ Key Characteristics:
✔ The data has inputs and outputs clearly labeled.​
✔ The model learns the relationship between inputs and outputs.​
✔ It’s used when the goal is to predict outcomes.

✅ Examples:
 ●​ Predicting whether a tumor is malignant or benign.​

●​ Predicting house prices based on area, location, etc.​

●​ Classifying emails as spam or non-spam.​

●​ Forecasting demand or stock prices.​

✅ Types within Supervised Learning:

1.​ Classification:​
✔ Predicts a category or class.​
✔ Example: Image classification → Cat, Dog, or Bird.​

2.​ Regression:​
✔ Predicts a continuous value.​
✔ Example: Forecasting weather temperatures or sales numbers.​

✅ Important Notes:
●​ Accuracy depends on the quality of labeled data.​

●​ Better data → better prediction.​

✅ 2. Unsupervised Learning
👉 Also called descriptive learning.
✅ Definition:
 ●​ The model learns from unlabeled data without known outputs.​

●​ It finds patterns or structures within the data.​

✅ Key Characteristics:
✔ The data is unlabeled → no correct answers provided.​
✔ The model groups data or finds patterns.​
✔ It’s used to explore hidden structures in data.

✅ Examples:
●​ Customer segmentation → Grouping customers based on purchase
behavior.​

●​ Credit card fraud detection → Identifying suspicious patterns.​

●​ Recommendation systems → Finding similar products for users.​

✅ Types within Unsupervised Learning:

1.​ Clustering:​
✔ Groups similar data points together.​
✔ Example: Grouping customers with similar shopping habits.​

2.​ Association:​
✔ Finds rules or relationships between data items.​
✔ Example: Market basket analysis → People who buy bread also buy
butter.​
✅ Important Notes:
●​ Good for exploratory data analysis.​

●​ Helps in identifying hidden relationships.​

✅ 3. Reinforcement Learning
👉 Also called feedback-based learning.
✅ Definition:
●​ The model learns by trial and error, interacting with the environment.​

●​ It receives rewards or penalties based on actions.​

✅ Key Characteristics:
✔ There is no fixed dataset → learning happens in real-time.​
✔ The model learns from consequences of actions.​
✔ It’s used where long-term goals matter.

✅ Examples:
●​ Self-driving cars → Learn to navigate safely.​

●​ Robots → Learn optimal paths or actions.​

●​ Game-playing AI → Learns strategies by competing against itself.​

✅ Important Notes:
●​ Works in dynamic environments.​

●​ Optimizes performance over time.​

✅ Comparison of Types of Machine Learning

Feature Supervised Unsupervised Reinforcement
Learning Learning Learning

Type of Labeled data Unlabeled data Interaction data

data

Output Prediction/classificati Patterns/clusters Actions & rewards

on

Use case Forecasting, Grouping, discovering Navigation, gaming

classification patterns

Feedbac Supervised signal No feedback Reward/Penalty

k signal

Example Spam detection Customer Self-driving cars

segmentation
✅ Final Summary – Easy to Remember
✔ Supervised → “Teacher-guided learning”​
✔ Unsupervised → “Finding hidden patterns”​
✔ Reinforcement → “Learning from rewards & penalties”

Q.4 Support Vector Machine (SVM) – Basics

✔ SVM is a supervised learning algorithm​
✔ Mainly used for classification, but also applied in regression​
✔ It finds the best decision boundary (called a hyperplane) that separates
classes​
✔ The goal is to maximize the margin — the distance between the classes and
the hyperplane​
✔ The data points closest to the hyperplane are called support vectors, and
they define the hyperplane

📌 Key Terms
➤ Hyperplane

●​ The decision boundary that separates different classes​

●​ In 2D, it’s a line; in 3D, it’s a plane; in higher dimensions, it’s a hyperplane​

●​ We aim to find the best hyperplane that separates the classes with the
largest margin​

➤ Support Vectors

●​ Data points closest to the hyperplane​

 ●​ They “support” or define the boundary​

●​ These are the most critical elements that the SVM uses to construct the
decision boundary​

➤ Maximum Margin Hyperplane (MMH)

●​ The hyperplane that maximizes the distance (margin) between the closest
data points of both classes​

●​ A wider margin helps the model generalize better and avoid

misclassification​

●​ For linearly separable data, MMH is easy to find by enclosing data points in
convex hulls​

●​ For non-linearly separable data, SVM uses the kernel trick to transform
data into higher dimensions where it becomes separable​

✅ Types of SVM
1️⃣ Linear SVM

●​ Used when the data can be separated with a straight line or hyperplane​

●​ Example → If two classes can be divided by a line in a 2D plot, Linear

SVM is applicable​

2️⃣ Non-Linear SVM

●​ Used when data cannot be separated by a straight line​

 ●​ SVM uses kernel functions (like polynomial or radial basis function) to
transform data into higher dimensions​

●​ Example → Complex datasets like circles, spirals, or overlapping clusters

can be handled using Non-linear SVM​

✅ Algorithm Steps (Basic Idea)

1.​ Input: Training data with labeled classes​

2.​ Find the best hyperplane that maximizes the margin between classes​

3.​ Identify the support vectors closest to the boundary​

4.​ For non-linear problems, apply kernel functions to map data to a

higher-dimensional space​

5.​ Optimize the hyperplane to reduce misclassification​

6.​ Classify new data points based on their position relative to the hyperplane​

✅ Strengths of SVM
✔ Works for both classification and regression​
✔ Effective with noisy data and outliers​
✔ Provides promising prediction results​
✔ Well-suited for binary classification tasks​
✔ Maximizes margin for better generalization

✅ Weaknesses of SVM
✔ Mostly applicable to binary classification​
✔ Complex and hard to interpret in high-dimensional spaces​
✔ Slow for large datasets with many features or instances​
✔ Memory-intensive computations required for large datasets​
✔ Difficult to understand the model like a “black box”

✅ Applications of SVM
✔ Bioinformatics → Detecting cancer or genetic disorders by classifying data
into two groups​
✔ Face Detection → Separating images into face vs. non-face​
✔ Image Classification → Identifying objects in images​
✔ Text Categorization → Classifying documents, emails, or news articles​
✔ Financial predictions → Credit risk assessment, stock trends

✅ Final Summary – Easy to Remember

✔ SVM = Finding the best boundary to separate data​
✔ Support Vectors = Critical points that define the boundary​
✔ MMH = Largest margin between classes → better generalization​
✔ Linear SVM → straight line separation​
✔ Non-linear SVM → kernel trick for complex data​
✔ Strengths → robust, accurate, margin maximization​
✔ Weaknesses → binary focus, complex, slow for big data​
✔ Applications → healthcare, image analysis, text classification
Q.5 k-Nearest Neighbors (kNN) – Basics
✔ kNN is a simple, supervised learning algorithm​
✔ Used for classification and regression, but primarily for classification​
✔ It works by comparing a new data point with its k closest neighbors from the
training set​
✔ The output is determined by the majority class among the neighbors (for
classification) or the average of neighbors (for regression)

📌 How kNN Works

1.​ Choose k → The number of neighbors to consider​

2.​ Measure distance → Find the distance between the new data point and
all training points (common methods: Euclidean, Manhattan)​

3.​ Select neighbors → Pick the k closest training points​

4.​ Vote or average →​

○​ Classification → Take the majority class among neighbors​

○​ Regression → Take the average of the neighbors’ values​

5.​ Assign the label → Based on the vote or average, assign the class or
value to the new point​

✅ Key Characteristics
✔ Instance-based → Learns by comparing examples, not by building a model​
✔ Lazy learning → Doesn’t train a model upfront; computes at the time of
classification​
✔ Non-parametric → Doesn’t make assumptions about data distribution
✅ Strengths of kNN
✔ Simple and intuitive – easy to understand and implement​
✔ No training phase – stores training data and makes predictions during
classification​
✔ Effective for small datasets – works well when data is not huge​
✔ Adaptable to non-linear data – doesn’t require the data to be linearly
separable​
✔ Works with multi-class problems – can classify into more than two
categories

✅ Weaknesses of kNN
✔ Computationally expensive – requires distance calculation with all data
points for each prediction​
✔ Sensitive to irrelevant or noisy features – irrelevant data can mislead
classification​
✔ Needs careful choice of k – too small leads to noise influence; too large
leads to smoothing over differences​
✔ Memory-intensive – stores all training data in memory​
✔ Curse of dimensionality – performance drops when dealing with
high-dimensional data due to sparse distances

✅ Applications of kNN
✔ Pattern Recognition → Handwriting, digit recognition​
✔ Medical Diagnosis → Classifying diseases based on patient attributes​
✔ Recommendation Systems → Suggest products similar to previous ones​
✔ Credit Risk Analysis → Classifying loan applicants as high or low risk​
✔ Customer Behavior Prediction → Understanding customer preferences in
marketing​
✔ Image Recognition → Identifying objects based on similar images
✅ Final Summary – Easy to Remember
✔ kNN = “Find your neighbors and ask them what they are!”​
✔ Strengths → Simple, no training, flexible​
✔ Weaknesses → Slow, needs memory, sensitive to noise and irrelevant
data​
✔ Applications → Medical, finance, marketing, image recognition

Here’s a detailed, point-wise, easy-to-remember explanation about

Regression, its types, and Linear Regression with example:

✅ What is Regression?
✔ Regression is a supervised learning technique used to predict a
continuous value based on input features.​
✔ It finds the relationship between the dependent variable (output) and
independent variables (inputs).​
✔ Used when the target variable is numerical, such as price, temperature, or
salary.​
✔ The goal is to fit a model that best explains how the output depends on the
inputs.

📌 Key Points
✔ It’s not about classifying into categories → it predicts numbers​
✔ It helps in forecasting, trend analysis, and estimating unknown values​
✔ It assumes that there is some underlying pattern in the data
✅ Types of Regression
1.​ Linear Regression​
✔ Relationship is modeled with a straight line​

2.​ Multiple Linear Regression​

✔ More than one input feature is used to predict the output​

3.​ Polynomial Regression​

✔ Models non-linear relationships by using polynomial functions​

4.​ Ridge Regression​

✔ A regularization method to reduce overfitting by penalizing large
coefficients​

5.​ Lasso Regression​

✔ Another regularization technique that can shrink some coefficients to
zero​

6.​ Logistic Regression (though technically classification)​

✔ Predicts probability for categorical outcomes​

7.​ Support Vector Regression (SVR)​

✔ Uses Support Vector Machine principles for regression problems​

Q.6 Linear Regression – Detailed Explanation

✔ Definition:

Linear regression tries to find the best-fitting straight line that predicts the output
(Y) from one or more inputs (X).

✔ Equation of a line:

Y=mX+cY = mX + c
Where:​
✔ YY = predicted output​
✔ XX = input feature​
✔ mm = slope of the line (how much Y changes with X)​
✔ cc = intercept (value of Y when X is 0)

✅ Example – Predicting House Prices

Problem:​
You want to predict the price of a house based on its area (in square feet).

Given Data:

Area (sq Price (in

ft) ₹1000s)

1000 200

1500 250

2000 300

2500 350

3000 400
✅ Strengths of Linear Regression
✔ Simple and easy to understand​
✔ Provides clear relationship between input and output​
✔ Works well when data shows a linear trend​
✔ Good for prediction and forecasting​
✔ Helps identify which features affect the output the most
✅ Weaknesses of Linear Regression
✔ Doesn’t work well if the relationship is not linear​
✔ Sensitive to outliers → extreme values can skew the results​
✔ Assumes constant variance and normal distribution of errors​
✔ Not suitable for complex, multi-dimensional problems without transformation

✅ Applications of Linear Regression

✔ House price prediction​
✔ Stock market forecasting​
✔ Salary estimation based on experience​
✔ Demand forecasting in business​
✔ Agricultural yield prediction​
✔ Temperature and rainfall analysis

✅ Final Summary – Easy to Remember

✔ Regression = Predicting numbers, not categories​
✔ Linear Regression = Best straight line through data points​
✔ Formula → Y=mX+cY = mX + c​
✔ Example → Predict house price from area​
✔ Strengths → Simple, interpretable, fast​
✔ Weaknesses → Sensitive to outliers, assumes linearity​
✔ Applications → Finance, real estate, agriculture, weather forecasting
Q.7​
1. Hierarchical Clustering
👉 Groups data into a hierarchy of clusters without predefining the number of
clusters.

Key Points

1.​ Definition​

○​ Builds a tree-like structure (dendrogram) of nested clusters.​

○​ Clusters are formed based on distance matrix instead of specifying

k.​

2.​ Types​

○​ Agglomerative (Bottom-Up)​

■​ Start: Each data point = its own cluster.​

■​ At each step: Merge the two most similar clusters.​

■​ Stop: When all objects merge into one big cluster.​

■​ Example: AGNES (Agglomerative Nesting).​

○​ Divisive (Top-Down)​

■​ Start: All data in one cluster.​

■​ At each step: Split the most heterogeneous cluster.​

■​ Stop: Until each object is a separate cluster.​

 ■​ Example: DIANA (Divisive Analysis).​

3.​ Distance Measures Between Clusters​

○​ Single Link → Minimum distance between two points of different

clusters.​

○​ Complete Link → Maximum distance between two points of

different clusters.​

○​ Average Link → Average distance between points across clusters.​

○​ Centroid → Distance between centroids.​

○​ Medoid → Distance between most central points (medoids).​

4.​ Dendrogram​

○​ A tree diagram showing how clusters are merged/split.​

○​ By “cutting” at a desired level → final clusters are obtained.​

5.​ Strengths​

○​ Easy to understand and interpret.​

○​ No need to pre-define k.​

○​ Good visualization via dendrogram.​

6.​ Weaknesses​

○​ Once merged/split → cannot be undone.​

○​ Poor with large datasets and mixed data types.​

 ○​ Sensitive to missing data.​

○​ Dendrograms are often misinterpreted.​

2. K-Means Clustering
👉 A partitioning clustering method based on centroids.
Key Points

1.​ Definition​

○​ Groups n objects into k clusters.​

○​ Each cluster is represented by a centroid (mean point).​

○​ Objective: Minimize Sum of Squared Errors (SSE).​

2.​ Algorithm Steps​

○​ Choose k (number of clusters).​

○​ Initialize → Randomly select k objects as initial centroids.​

○​ Assignment → Assign each object to the nearest centroid.​

○​ Update → Recompute centroids of clusters.​

○​ Repeat steps 3–4 until centroids do not change (convergence).​

3.​ Concept​

○​ Uses Euclidean distance (commonly) to measure similarity.​

 ○​ Works by iterative relocation (objects may be reassigned
repeatedly).​

4.​ Choosing k​

○​ Done using Elbow Method (plot SSE vs. k, choose elbow point).​

○​ Or Silhouette score.​

5.​ Advantages​

○​ Simple and fast.​

○​ Works well on large datasets.​

○​ Produces tighter clusters.​

6.​ Limitations​

○​ Must specify k beforehand.​

○​ Only works when mean is defined (not categorical data).​

○​ Struggles with non-convex clusters or different sized clusters.​

○​ Sensitive to noise and outliers.​

7.​ Example (from notes)​

○​ Data points: A1(2,10), A2(2,5), A3(8,4), B1(5,8), B2(7,5), B3(6,4),

C1(1,2), C2(4,9).​

○​ k = 3, initial centers chosen → Iteratively refine until stable clusters

are formed.​
✅ Easy to Remember Tip
●​ Hierarchical → Tree (AGNES & DIANA)​

●​ K-Means → Centroid & Iteration (Partitioning)​

Q.7

🔹 How Overfitting in Decision Trees Can Be Avoided

1.​ Pruning the Tree​

○​ Pre-pruning (early stopping): Stop splitting when nodes become too

small or improvement is negligible.​

○​ Post-pruning: Grow full tree first, then remove unnecessary

branches.​

2.​ Restrict Tree Depth​

○​ Limit maximum depth → avoids too many levels → reduces

complexity.​

3.​ Minimum Samples per Split/Leaf​

○​ Require a minimum number of samples before splitting a node.​

○​ Prevents tree from fitting noise in small sample subsets.​

4.​ Limit Number of Features​

 ○​ Restrict number of features considered at each split to avoid overly
complex boundaries.​

5.​ Use Ensemble Methods​

○​ Combine multiple trees (Random Forest, Gradient Boosting) →

reduces variance and prevents overfitting.​

👉 Easy Tip to Remember:​

Think of “PRUNE + LIMIT” → Prune tree, Limit depth, Limit samples, Limit
features, Use ensembles.

🔹 Out-of-Bag (OOB) Error in Random Forest

1.​ Bootstrap Sampling​

○​ Each tree is trained on a random sample (with replacement) of the

dataset.​

○​ About 2/3rd of samples are used → remaining 1/3rd are left out
(called Out-of-Bag samples).​

2.​ OOB Testing​

○​ The left-out samples (not used for training a tree) are used as a test
set for that tree.​

○​ Gives an unbiased estimate of prediction error.​

3.​ OOB Error Rate​

○​ Average error across all trees, measured using their respective OOB
samples.​
 ○​ Acts like a built-in cross-validation for Random Forest.​

4.​ Advantages of OOB​

○​ No need for separate validation dataset.​

○​ Saves computation time.​

○​ Provides reliable error estimate.​

👉 Easy Tip to Remember:​

OOB = “Free Test Set” → Each tree ignores some data → That ignored data
tests the tree → Gives error estimate.