Beginner · Fundamentals

Supervised Learning

Visual diagram · (in preparation) · Math · (in preparation) · Worked example · 3 difficulty levels.

TL;DR. Learning from input–output pairs where each training example carries a correct label.

Technical Definition

Learning from input–output pairs where each training example carries a correct label.

How it works

The model learns a mapping f(x) → y from many (x, y) examples by minimizing the difference between its predictions and the true labels. Most production ML — spam filters, image classifiers, demand forecasts — uses supervised learning. Its main bottleneck is the cost and quality of labeled data.

Related Concepts

• Classification — A supervised learning task where the model assigns inputs to discrete categories.
• Regression — A supervised learning task that predicts a continuous numeric value.
• Label — The correct answer attached to a training example in supervised learning.