Schedule

Required readings are listed below for each module. Readings from ISLR are required, while those from ESL (in parentheses) are optional and supplemental.

All lecture notes as .qmd files are available here. R code for all lectures is available here.

1 The Learning Procedure - Models, Fitting, Model Selection

Topics: Learning through statistician and algorithmic lenses, model selection; cross validation

Learning Objectives:

1. Formulate learning problems in terms of statistical models, estimators, and model selection
2. Identify criteria for good statistical models, estimators, and model selection metrics

Handouts and Resources:

• Programming in R .Rmd, .pdf
• Using RMarkdown .Rmd, .pdf
• Overview of R and Tidyverse (Slides from last term)
• Overview of git and version control (Slides from last term)

Date	Topic	Readings	Deadlines
Sep 2	(no class, Imagine UBC)
Sep 4	Class Overview (slides) Probability Review (notes)
Sep 9	Introduction to Learning, Regression (notes)	ISLR 2.1 (ESL 2.4, 2.6)
Sep 11	Learning (cont.), Classification (notes)	ISLR 4.3 (ESL 4.4)
			Lab 00 (Sep 12)
Sep 16	Model Selection, Cross Validation (notes)	ISLR 5.1 (ESL 2.9, 7.10)

2 Bias-Variance Tradeoff, Linear Methods

Topics: bias/variance tradeoff; regularized regression (ridge and lasso); non-linearities via basis functions; advanced model selection and analysis

Learning Objectives:

1. Decompose prediction error into bias and variance components
2. Implement regularized versions of linear regression (ridge, lasso) and understand their impact on bias and variance
3. Implement basis expansions for linear regression and understand their impact on bias and variance
4. Apply closed-form selection techniques to linear methods, and identify factors in the formula that affect bias and variance

Date	Topic	Readings	Deadlines
Sep 18	Bias-Variance Tradeoff	ISLR 2.2 (ESL 7.1-7.3)
			Lab 01 (Sep 19) (notes
Sep 23	Ridge Regression	ISLR 6.2.1 (ESL 3.4.0-3.4.1)	HW 1 due
Sep 25	Lasso Regression, Optimization	ISLR 6.2.2-6.2.3 (ESL 3.4.2-3.4.3)
			Lab 02 (Sep 26)
Sep 30	(no class, Truth and Reconciliation)
Oct 2	Basis Functions	ISLR 7.1, 7.4 (ESL 5.1-5.3)
			Lab 03 (Oct 3)
Oct 7	Model Selection for Linear Methods	(ESL 7.6-7.7)

3 Nonparametric Methods, Curse of Dimensionality

Topics: kNN; trees; kernel machines; curse of dimensionality

Learning Objectives:

1. Analyze how dimensionality affects the performance of parametric vs nonparametric methods
2. Implement nonparametric methods (kNN, kernel smoothing, kernel machines) and analyze their properties
3. Write the parametric version of nonparametric methods (e.g. kernel ridge regression) and vice versa

Date	Topic	Readings	Deadlines
Oct 9	kNN, parametric vs non-parametric	ISLR 3.5 (ESL 2.3.2, 5.4.1)	HW 2 due
			Lab 04 (Oct 10)
Oct 14	Approximate kNN, trees	ISLR 8.1 (ESL 9.2)
Oct 16	Kernel Machines
			Lab 05 (Oct 17)
Oct 21	Curse of Dimensionality, Review	ISLR 8.1 (ESL 9.2)

Midterm Exam

Date	Topic
Oct 23	MIDTERM EXAM (In Class)

• In person attendance is required (per Faculty of Science guidelines)
• You must bring your computer as the exam will be given through Canvas
• Please arrange to borrow one from the library if you do not have your own. Let me know ASAP if this may pose a problem.
• You may bring 2 sheets of front/back 8.5 × 11 inch paper with handwritten notes you want to use. No other materials will be allowed.
• There will be no required coding, but I may show code or output and ask questions about it.
• It will be entirely multiple choice / True-False / matching, etc. Delivered on Canvas.

4 Unsupervised Learning, Generative Modelling

Topics: dimension reduction and clustering; generative vs discriminative modelling

Learning Objectives:

1. Differentiate between generative and discriminative modelling approaches and identify when each is most appropriate
2. Implement dimensionality reduction techniques (PCA, kernel PCA) and analyze their impact on data representation
3. Apply clustering algorithms (k-means, Gaussian mixture models) and evaluate their performance using appropriate metrics
4. Connect unsupervised learning methods to their generative/discriminative modelling framework

Date	Topic	Readings	Deadlines
Oct 28	Generative vs Discriminative Modelling	ISLR 4.2.0, 12.1
Oct 30	Dimensionality Reduction	ISLR 12.2 (ESL 14.5.1, 14.5.4)
			Lab 06 (Oct 31)
Nov 04	Clustering 1	ISLR 12.4.1 (ESL 14.3)
Nov 6	Clustering 2		HW 3 due
			Lab 07 (Nov 7)

5 Ensembles, Black-Box Methods

Topics: ensembles; bootstrap; bagging; boosting; random forests

Learning Objectives:

1. Implement bootstrap and ensembling methods, reason through computational tradeoffs
2. Differentiate ensemble methods that reduce bias or variance
3. Utilize “hidden advantages” of ensembles around feature importance, uncertainty quantification, etc.
4. Identify assumptions in black-box methods of uncertainty quantification, variance reduction, and bias reduction

Date	Topic	Readings	Deadlines
Nov 11	(no class, Midterm Break)
Nov 13	The Bootstrap	ISLR 5.2 (ESL 7.11, 8.2)
Nov 18	Bagging and Random Forests	ISLR 8.2.0-8.2.2 (ESL 8.7, 15.1-15.3)
Nov 20	Boosting	ISLR 8.2.3 (ESL 10.1-10.5, 10.9)
			Lab 08 (Nov 21)

6 Deep Learning

Topics: neural networks; deep learning architectures; generative AI

Learning Objectives:

1. Construct a basic neural network architecture from simple mathematical building blocks
2. Articulate the effects of depth and width on the representational capacity and generalization of neural networks
3. Connect neural networks to other methods covered in the course (basis functions, kernel methods, boosting methods)
4. Derive the backpropagation algorithm
5. Evaluate modern neural network architectures for different problem types

Date	Topic	Readings	Deadlines
Nov 25	Introduction to Neural Networks	ISLR 10.1-10.2 (ESL 11.1, 11.3)
Nov 27	Neural Network Optimization Generalization	ISLR 10.7-10.8 (ESL 11.4)	HW 4 due
			Lab 09 (Nov 28)
Dec 2	Neural Net Architectures Generative AI
Dec 4	Review

Final Exam

Important

Do not make any plans to leave Vancouver before the final exam date is announced.

• In person attendance is required (per Faculty of Science guidelines)
• You may bring 2 sheets of front/back 8.5 × 11 inch paper with handwritten notes you want to use. No other materials will be allowed.