Cluster Analysis and Unsupervised Machine Learning in Python
What you'll learn
- Understand the regular K-Means algorithm
- Understand and enumerate the disadvantages of K-Means Clustering
- Understand the soft or fuzzy K-Means Clustering algorithm
- Implement Soft K-Means Clustering in Code
- Understand Hierarchical Clustering
- Explain algorithmically how Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering works
- Apply Scipy's Hierarchical Clustering library to data
- Understand how to read a dendrogram
- Understand the different distance metrics used in clustering
- Understand the difference between single linkage, complete linkage, Ward linkage, and UPGMA
- Understand the Gaussian mixture model and how to use it for density estimation
- Write a GMM in Python code
- Explain when GMM is equivalent to K-Means Clustering
- Explain the expectation-maximization algorithm
- Understand how GMM overcomes some disadvantages of K-Means
- Understand the Singular Covariance problem and how to fix it
Requirements
- Know how to code in Python and Numpy
- Install Numpy and Scipy
- Matrix arithmetic, probability
Description
Cluster analysis is a staple of unsupervised machine learning and data science.
It is very useful for data mining and big data because it automatically finds patterns in the data, without the need for labels, unlike supervised machine learning.
In a real-world environment, you can imagine that a robot or an artificial intelligence won’t always have access to the optimal answer, or maybe there isn’t an optimal correct answer. You’d want that robot to be able to explore the world on its own, and learn things just by looking for patterns.
Do you ever wonder how we get the data that we use in our supervised machine learning algorithms?
We always seem to have a nice CSV or a table, complete with Xs and corresponding Ys.
If you haven’t been involved in acquiring data yourself, you might not have thought about this, but someone has to make this data!
Those “Y”s have to come from somewhere, and a lot of the time that involves manual labor.
Sometimes, you don’t have access to this kind of information or it is infeasible or costly to acquire.
But you still want to have some idea of the structure of the data. If you're doing data analytics automating pattern recognition in your data would be invaluable.
This is where unsupervised machine learning comes into play.
In this course we are first going to talk about clustering. This is where instead of training on labels, we try to create our own labels! We’ll do this by grouping together data that looks alike.
There are 2 methods of clustering we’ll talk about: k-means clustering and hierarchical clustering.
Next, because in machine learning we like to talk about probability distributions, we’ll go into Gaussian mixture models and kernel density estimation, where we talk about how to "learn" the probability distribution of a set of data.
One interesting fact is that under certain conditions, Gaussian mixture models and k-means clustering are exactly the same! We’ll prove how this is the case.
All the algorithms we’ll talk about in this course are staples in machine learning and data science, so if you want to know how to automatically find patterns in your data with data mining and pattern extraction, without needing someone to put in manual work to label that data, then this course is for you.
All the materials for this course are FREE. You can download and install Python, Numpy, and Scipy with simple commands on Windows, Linux, or Mac.
This course focuses on "how to build and understand", not just "how to use". Anyone can learn to use an API in 15 minutes after reading some documentation. It's not about "remembering facts", it's about "seeing for yourself" via experimentation. It will teach you how to visualize what's happening in the model internally. If you want more than just a superficial look at machine learning models, this course is for you.
"If you can't implement it, you don't understand it"
Or as the great physicist Richard Feynman said: "What I cannot create, I do not understand".
My courses are the ONLY courses where you will learn how to implement machine learning algorithms from scratch
Other courses will teach you how to plug in your data into a library, but do you really need help with 3 lines of code?
After doing the same thing with 10 datasets, you realize you didn't learn 10 things. You learned 1 thing, and just repeated the same 3 lines of code 10 times...
Suggested Prerequisites:
matrix addition, multiplication
probability
Python coding: if/else, loops, lists, dicts, sets
Numpy coding: matrix and vector operations, loading a CSV file
WHAT ORDER SHOULD I TAKE YOUR COURSES IN?:
Check out the lecture "Machine Learning and AI Prerequisite Roadmap" (available in the FAQ of any of my courses, including the free Numpy course)
Who this course is for:
- Students and professionals interested in machine learning and data science
- People who want an introduction to unsupervised machine learning and cluster analysis
- People who want to know how to write their own clustering code
- Professionals interested in data mining big data sets to look for patterns automatically
Instructors
- 4.7 Instructor Rating
- 58,681 Reviews
- 204,627 Students
- 20 Courses
The Lazy Programmer is a seasoned online educator with an unwavering passion for sharing knowledge. With over 10 years of experience, he has revolutionized the field of data science and machine learning by captivating audiences worldwide through his comprehensive courses and tutorials.
Equipped with a multidisciplinary background, the Lazy Programmer holds a remarkable duo of master's degrees. His first foray into academia led him to pursue computer engineering, with a specialized focus on machine learning and pattern recognition. Undeterred by boundaries, he then ventured into the realm of statistics, exploring its applications in financial engineering.
Recognized as a trailblazer in his field, the Lazy Programmer quickly embraced the power of deep learning when it was still in its infancy. As one of the pioneers, he fearlessly embarked on instructing one of the first-ever online courses on deep learning, catapulting him to the forefront of the industry.
Beyond the realm of education, the Lazy Programmer possesses invaluable hands-on experience that has shaped his expertise. His ventures into online advertising and digital media have yielded astounding results, propelling click-through rates and conversion rates to new heights and boosting revenues by millions of dollars at the companies he's worked for. As a full-stack software engineer, he boasts intimate familiarity with an array of backend and web technologies, including Python, Ruby on Rails, C++, Scala, PHP, Javascript, SQL, big data, Spark, and Redis.
While his achievements in the field of data science and machine learning are awe-inspiring, the Lazy Programmer's intellectual curiosity extends far beyond these domains. His fervor for knowledge leads him to explore diverse fields such as drug discovery, bioinformatics, and algorithmic trading. Embracing the challenges and intricacies of these subjects, he strives to unravel their potential and contribute to their development.
With an unwavering commitment to his students and a penchant for simplifying complex concepts, the Lazy Programmer stands as an influential figure in the realm of online education. Through his courses in data science, machine learning, deep learning, and artificial intelligence, he empowers aspiring learners to navigate the intricate landscapes of these disciplines with confidence.
As an author, mentor, and innovator, the Lazy Programmer leaves an indelible mark on the world of data science, machine learning, and beyond. With his ability to demystify the most intricate concepts, he continues to shape the next generation of data scientists and inspires countless individuals to embark on their own intellectual journeys.
- 4.7 Instructor Rating
- 161,064 Reviews
- 550,199 Students
- 36 Courses
The Lazy Programmer is a seasoned online educator with an unwavering passion for sharing knowledge. With over 10 years of experience, he has revolutionized the field of data science and machine learning by captivating audiences worldwide through his comprehensive courses and tutorials.
Equipped with a multidisciplinary background, the Lazy Programmer holds a remarkable duo of master's degrees. His first foray into academia led him to pursue computer engineering, with a specialized focus on machine learning and pattern recognition. Undeterred by boundaries, he then ventured into the realm of statistics, exploring its applications in financial engineering.
Recognized as a trailblazer in his field, the Lazy Programmer quickly embraced the power of deep learning when it was still in its infancy. As one of the pioneers, he fearlessly embarked on instructing one of the first-ever online courses on deep learning, catapulting him to the forefront of the industry.
Beyond the realm of education, the Lazy Programmer possesses invaluable hands-on experience that has shaped his expertise. His ventures into online advertising and digital media have yielded astounding results, propelling click-through rates and conversion rates to new heights and boosting revenues by millions of dollars at the companies he's worked for. As a full-stack software engineer, he boasts intimate familiarity with an array of backend and web technologies, including Python, Ruby on Rails, C++, Scala, PHP, Javascript, SQL, big data, Spark, and Redis.
While his achievements in the field of data science and machine learning are awe-inspiring, the Lazy Programmer's intellectual curiosity extends far beyond these domains. His fervor for knowledge leads him to explore diverse fields such as drug discovery, bioinformatics, and algorithmic trading. Embracing the challenges and intricacies of these subjects, he strives to unravel their potential and contribute to their development.
With an unwavering commitment to his students and a penchant for simplifying complex concepts, the Lazy Programmer stands as an influential figure in the realm of online education. Through his courses in data science, machine learning, deep learning, and artificial intelligence, he empowers aspiring learners to navigate the intricate landscapes of these disciplines with confidence.
As an author, mentor, and innovator, the Lazy Programmer leaves an indelible mark on the world of data science, machine learning, and beyond. With his ability to demystify the most intricate concepts, he continues to shape the next generation of data scientists and inspires countless individuals to embark on their own intellectual journeys.