{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-docs-js","path":"/accomplishments/b_machinelearning","result":{"data":{"mdx":{"fields":{"id":"1297092d-b7f8-5f54-9006-53b36d74a4a1","title":"Maths Mountain","slug":"/accomplishments/b_machinelearning"},"body":"var _excluded = [\"components\"];\n\nfunction _extends() { _extends = Object.assign || function (target) { for (var i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) { var source = arguments[i]; for (var key in source) { if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(source, key)) { target[key] = source[key]; } } } return target; }; return _extends.apply(this, arguments); }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutProperties(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded); var key, i; if (Object.getOwnPropertySymbols) { var sourceSymbolKeys = Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(source); for (i = 0; i < sourceSymbolKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceSymbolKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; if (!Object.prototype.propertyIsEnumerable.call(source, key)) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } } return target; }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = {}; var sourceKeys = Object.keys(source); var key, i; for (i = 0; i < sourceKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } return target; }\n\n/* @jsxRuntime classic */\n\n/* @jsx mdx */\nvar _frontmatter = {\n  \"title\": \"Maths Mountain\",\n  \"metaTitle\": \"Math.pow(hip2b, 2)\",\n  \"metaDescription\": \"This is the meta description\"\n};\nvar layoutProps = {\n  _frontmatter: _frontmatter\n};\nvar MDXLayout = \"wrapper\";\nreturn function MDXContent(_ref) {\n  var components = _ref.components,\n      props = _objectWithoutProperties(_ref, _excluded);\n\n  return mdx(MDXLayout, _extends({}, layoutProps, props, {\n    components: components,\n    mdxType: \"MDXLayout\"\n  }), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Early into my self-improvement journey, I gained the mindset of \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"anything is possible, if I set my sights on it\"), \". There\\nis a catch though, \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"given enough time and effort\"), \". Which is very important detail because that is necessary for\\nmanaging expectations. Life is all about managing expectations. If the expectation was to understand Linear Algebra or\\nCalculus in a short period of time without having a firm grasp of the prerequisites. Then I was setting myself up for\\nheaps of disappointment. However, if the expectation was that it would take a year or more of dedicated study\\nto accomplish that task. Then I could start to see myself actually being able to accomplish that objective. This would\\nbe the foundational mindset for success. It would take a lot of time, work, and effort. Though I knew that I could do\\nit.\"), mdx(\"h1\", null, \"Machine Learning\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"There was a realization one day that I might be a bit behind the curve. This happened after watching a presentation on\\nwhat neat things can be done machine learning. At this point in time, I was still paying attention to what folks in the\\nindustry had to say about new developments in technology. I gathered a feeling that the future is moving towards a more\\ndata-centric and machine-learning enabled solutions. Wanting to remain in a position where I could still make\\ncontributions to that new future made me feel like I needed to learn a new skill set. However, there was this deep\\nsinking feeling because I knew my math skills where awful. How could I expect to make machines dance with numbers if\\nI lack a strong foundation in mathematics?\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"I was able to skate by college and university on a shoddy foundation of math created by neglect in my early learning\\ndays. A full re-build of my foundational skills felt like a prerequisite to have any semblance of success in these data\\nscience fields. At least, that is what I thought at the time. The only way forward that I could see was to re-learn\\nall the basics. Then work my way back up to a level where I could do something interesting. In an attempt to instill the\\nconfidence I can attempt to do anything machine learning related.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"At the base of the mountain there was a really long winding road up. This is where my new journey began.\\nThe measure for success was to be able to mostly understand, complete, and pass the exams provided by\\nthe \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06-linear-algebra-spring-2010/\"\n  }, \"MIT Linear Algebra course\"), \". Which would\\nthen instill the confidence that I could start taking all the courses at \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"https://www.fast.ai/\"\n  }, \"fast.ai\"), \".\\nHowever, in order to reach that point I had to completely redo my foundational mathematical knowledge.\"), mdx(\"h3\", null, \"Human Learning\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"One of the very first tasks that needed to be done was to leave my education ego at the door. Essentially fully\\nembracing that my foundational math skills where that of a middle-school student. Thankfully, there is an amazing\\nresource that was built to help children learn maths online \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"https://www.khanacademy.org\"\n  }, \"https://www.khanacademy.org\"), \".\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Here is the learning track that I followed to get to a place where I felt comfortable taking the Linear Algebra course\\noffered by MIT:\"), mdx(\"ul\", null, mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ul\"\n  }, \"Algebra I\"), mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ul\"\n  }, \"Geometry\"), mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ul\"\n  }, \"Algebra II\"), mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ul\"\n  }, \"Trigonometry\"), mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ul\"\n  }, \"Pre-Calculus\"), mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ul\"\n  }, \"Statistics & Probability\"), mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ul\"\n  }, \"Differential Calculus\"), mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ul\"\n  }, \"Linear Algebra\")), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The resources provided by Khan Academy are put together really well and easy to comprehend. Performing the exercises\\nbefore being shown how to solve them really helped build my mathematical intuition. The absolute mass of content needed\\nto be consumed was the most difficult part about this leg of the journey. At the time, I had 4 hours in-between\\nworking, sleeping, and exercising, to work on whatever I wanted. Therefore, I dedicated the first two hours after waking\\nup six days a week for the next year and some change to overcoming this task.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Part of this goal was to not finish as quickly as possible, the ultimate end result was to have a really strong\\nfundamental understanding of math. Even though completing the required courses helped, understanding the content being taught\\nwas the true treasure sought. Math is a perishable skill, which meant that most of the topics being learnt would be\\nforgotten as time went on. Therefore, what I wanted to retain was the confidence and necessary intuitions to hash out\\nthe problems again in the future.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"That being said, it took an immense amount of willpower to accomplish this task. What kept me going on the tough days\\nwas the thought of not being intimidated by math problems. Another trick that helps is if you ever find yourself\\nstruggling to care mid-way through a large task, then you can do the following:\"), mdx(\"ol\", null, mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ol\"\n  }, \"Step away\"), mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ol\"\n  }, \"Consume a small amount of pure sugar (8 grams works for me)\"), mdx(\"li\", {\n    parentName: \"ol\"\n  }, \"Come back to the task 3 minutes later.\")), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Our brains run on glucose, meaning the sugar essentially replenish the \\\"Give a damn\\\" tanks in your brain.\\nYou should find that you are able to hold your focus on the task at hand much easier than before.\\nIt may be placebo, but it works for any difficult task and not just math problems.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The difficulty and duration of this goal also prevented me from dedicating the entirety of my free time to reaching this\\ngoal. I wanted to remain hungry to complete the task. Meaning I wanted to still see the value in continuing.\\nThis was a monumental task that I thought needed to be completed at the time.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"There were times that it felt like I was doing things inefficiently because of how I partitioned my effort. Like I was\\nmoving slowly to accomplish things because I was only doing half of the work. There were another 2 hours that were not\\nbeing taken advantage of. What made things more difficult was the same thoughts started occurring with the tasks on the\\nother side of the day as well.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"I was moving slowly at accomplishing two things now. All because my attention was divided between both of them.\\nHowever, I knew that I am not a math focus juggernaut and \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"would\"), \" stop caring about completing it if my entire time was\\ndedicated towards this task. So looking back, I think this division that is what kept me going.\\nI remained hungry to complete the task.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"I finally reached the milestone where I could no longer put off starting the MIT Linear Algebra course. The goal for\\nthis course was to understand the concepts and not finish as quickly as possible. I wanted to follow the syllabus of the\\ncourse and pretend like I needed to pass. Which would then give me the mindset to work on AI stuffs.\\nTo accomplish this I: watched the video lectures, then read the chapters outlined, worked on the assigned homework problems,\\nand took the tests provided. While I am grateful these resources are provided for free the difficulty factor of this course was next\\nlevel. Which made this a pain in the rear. Even grading the homework proved to be difficult because a teaching assistant\\nwas not readily available to help us out.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Thankfully, I found somebody else to work alongside me when completing the course. We spent the next 3 months (I think)\\nspending our free time working the homework problems, completing exams, and studying together. We finally reached a\\npoint where we were able to take the final exam. I distinctly remember going into that exam and treating it like it was\\nthe real thing. The feeling of \\\"Yeah, I understand what is being asked here\\\" probably made up for the past year and a\\nhalf of dedicated effort.\"), mdx(\"h3\", null, \"Dabbling in A.I.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Once we felt like we felt like we had our fill of difficult mathematics the next phase of education entered the\\npicture, machine learning. \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"https://www.fast.ai/\"\n  }, \"https://www.fast.ai/\"), \" is the free resource that we used as the entry point into this world of\\ndata science. This portion of my maths journey was much easier to work on. Solving the problems in these courses\\nactually yielded things that were interesting. Rather than ending up with just a notebook filled with notes, I actually\\nhad a program that did interesting things.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Even better was that I felt confident going into the courses and continued to feel that way as the courses progressed. I\\nfelt as though I understood the concepts at their core. In the end, I was able to completely go through all the material\\nprovided by the nice folks at fast.ai. Which included building a machine learning model from scratch.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"After having consumed everything that was offered from this resource and hitting a major milestone, I distinctly remember the\\nfeeling of \\\"Now what?\\\" The goal to be able to work on machine learning problems became actualized. I was at a\\ncrossroads in my journey I was faced with a decision on what to do next. Having fulfilled the purpose of being able to\\nunderstand the inner workings of a complex and foreign topic, I needed to know what was in store for me.\\nEverything that I work on has be directed towards a goal. Now that I reached my destination, I did not know what to do with myself.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"There were some options available. I could continue to learn more about various machine learning and data science\\ntopics. Various data science related challenges and programs also existed. All of which I could participate in.\\nHowever, by this time I had convinced myself that I really did not care to get into the data science field.\\nThere were not any problems that were fascinating enough to continue to keep my skills sharp.\\nIt might have been that I was not looking hard enough, but there was not anything worth working towards at this point.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Late 2019, I decided that it was time for me to move onto the next interesting challenge. Looking back at things now, I\\nrealised there was not a need to complete all the work upfront to start to dabble in machine learning. However, I am\\ngrateful that I did do all that work, because I now have more confidence when approaching mathematical problems.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, mdx(\"span\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-wrapper\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"position\": \"relative\",\n      \"display\": \"block\",\n      \"marginLeft\": \"auto\",\n      \"marginRight\": \"auto\",\n      \"maxWidth\": \"1500px\"\n    }\n  }, \"\\n      \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"span\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-link\",\n    \"href\": \"/static/6cfaeb55c57068b0be1e7d053b3af13e/aa440/maffs.png\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"display\": \"block\"\n    },\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener\"\n  }, \"\\n    \", mdx(\"span\", {\n    parentName: \"a\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-background-image\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"paddingBottom\": \"72.53333333333333%\",\n      \"position\": \"relative\",\n      \"bottom\": \"0\",\n      \"left\": \"0\",\n      \"backgroundImage\": \"url('data:image/png;base64,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')\",\n      \"backgroundSize\": \"cover\",\n      \"display\": \"block\"\n    }\n  }), \"\\n  \", mdx(\"img\", {\n    parentName: \"a\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-image\",\n    \"alt\": \"Filled Notebooks\",\n    \"title\": \"Filled Notebooks\",\n    \"src\": \"/static/6cfaeb55c57068b0be1e7d053b3af13e/aa440/maffs.png\",\n    \"srcSet\": [\"/static/6cfaeb55c57068b0be1e7d053b3af13e/5ff7e/maffs.png 375w\", \"/static/6cfaeb55c57068b0be1e7d053b3af13e/1d69c/maffs.png 750w\", \"/static/6cfaeb55c57068b0be1e7d053b3af13e/aa440/maffs.png 1500w\"],\n    \"sizes\": \"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"width\": \"100%\",\n      \"height\": \"100%\",\n      \"margin\": \"0\",\n      \"verticalAlign\": \"middle\",\n      \"position\": \"absolute\",\n      \"top\": \"0\",\n      \"left\": \"0\"\n    },\n    \"loading\": \"lazy\",\n    \"decoding\": \"async\"\n  }), \"\\n  \"), \"\\n    \")), mdx(\"p\", null, \"In the end, having three notebooks filled up with the notes of my learning was not all that I was left with. I also\\ngained the assurance of the fact that \", mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"I am\"), \" capable of whatever I put my mind to. Even though the skills that I learned\\nwhere perishable, the intuitions that I earned can easily be re-fortified. Who knows, maybe one day I can find an\\ninteresting problem to work on that enables me to take advantage of these higher level maths skills.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Until that day comes, I have my eyes open for any new opportunity that allows me to work on a fulfilling problem.\\nSomething that will not only benefit me, but the others that I share this world with.\"));\n}\n;\nMDXContent.isMDXComponent = true;","tableOfContents":{"items":[{"url":"#machine-learning","title":"Machine Learning","items":[{"items":[{"url":"#human-learning","title":"Human Learning"},{"url":"#dabbling-in-ai","title":"Dabbling in A.I."}]}]}]},"parent":{"relativePath":"accomplishments/b_machinelearning.md"},"frontmatter":{"metaTitle":"Math.pow(hip2b, 2)","metaDescription":"This is the meta description"}},"allMdx":{"edges":[{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/","title":"The Ultramarathon"}}},{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/introduction","title":"But Why?"}}},{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/accomplishments","title":"Accomplishments"}}},{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/accomplishments/a_thecommunicator","title":"Good Word Speaker"}}},{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/accomplishments/b_machinelearning","title":"Maths Mountain"}}},{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/accomplishments/c_theperfecttheme","title":"The Perfect Theme"}}},{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/thestrugglebus","title":"Struggle Bus"}}},{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/thestrugglebus/a_greatestchallenge","title":"Greatest Challenge"}}},{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/thestrugglebus/biggestfear","title":"Greatest Fear"}}},{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/reflections","title":"Reflections"}}},{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/reflections/durationnotgood","title":"Time !== Merit"}}},{"node":{"fields":{"slug":"/nextchapter","title":"Next Chapter"}}}]}},"pageContext":{"id":"1297092d-b7f8-5f54-9006-53b36d74a4a1"}},"staticQueryHashes":["2619113677","3706406642","417421954"]}