1. Introduction to Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)
What is an Artificial Neural Network?
An artificial neural network is a computational model inspired by the way biological neural networks in the human brain process information. It consists of layers of interconnected nodes (or "neurons") that work together to solve complex tasks.
They are part of the broader field of machine learning and deep learning, primarily used for tasks like classification, regression, pattern recognition, and more.
History of ANNs
The concept of neural networks dates back to the 1940s with the work of Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts, who created a simple model of a neuron.
The 1950s and 60s saw the development of the perceptron, the first neural network model that could classify linearly separable data.
The resurgence of neural networks in the 1980s with the backpropagation algorithm significantly boosted their practical application, especially for multi-layer networks.
2. Basic Components of Artificial Neural Networks
Neurons (Nodes):
A neural network is made up of units called neurons. Each neuron receives inputs, processes them, and produces an output.
Each neuron has weights associated with the input signals, which influence how much the input affects the output.
Layers of a Neural Network:
Input Layer: This layer consists of input neurons that receive the features (data points) from the outside world.
Hidden Layers: These layers consist of neurons that process inputs received from the previous layer. The network can have multiple hidden layers (which is why deep learning networks are sometimes called "deep neural networks").
Output Layer: This layer produces the final output of the neural network after all transformations.
Weights and Biases:
Weights: Each connection between neurons has a weight that determines the strength and direction of the connection.
Biases: Bias terms are added to the output of neurons to help the network learn the optimal function.
Activation Function:
Activation functions are used to introduce non-linearity into the model, enabling neural networks to learn complex relationships. Common activation functions include:
Sigmoid: Used for binary classification tasks.
ReLU (Rectified Linear Unit): A widely used function for hidden layers in deep networks.
Tanh (Hyperbolic Tangent): A smoother alternative to sigmoid.
Softmax: Often used in the output layer of multi-class classification networks.
3. How Neural Networks Work
Forward Propagation:
In forward propagation, input data is passed through the network, layer by layer, to produce an output. Each neuron applies a weighted sum of inputs and a bias, then applies an activation function to produce its output.
Error Calculation:
The error (or loss) is calculated by comparing the output of the network to the actual expected output using a loss function. Common loss functions include:
Mean Squared Error (MSE): Often used for regression tasks.