Introduction to Statistical Machine Learning

Machine learning allows computers to learn and discern patterns without actually being programmed. When Statistical techniques and machine learning are combined together they are a powerful tool for analysing various kinds of data in many computer science/engineering areas including, image processing, speech processing, natural language processing, robot control, as well as in fundamental sciences such as biology, medicine, astronomy, physics, and materials.

Introduction to Statistical Machine Learning provides a general introduction to machine learning that covers a wide range of topics concisely and will help you bridge the gap between theory and practice. Part I discusses the fundamental concepts of statistics and probability that are used in describing machine learning algorithms. Part II and Part III explain the two major approaches of machine learning techniques; generative methods and discriminative methods. While Part III provides an in-depth look at advanced topics that play essential roles in making machine learning algorithms more useful in practice. The accompanying MATLAB/Octave programs provide you with the necessary practical skills needed to accomplish a wide range of data analysis tasks.

• Provides the necessary background material to understand machine learning such as statistics, probability, linear algebra, and calculus
• Complete coverage of the generative approach to statistical pattern recognition and the discriminative approach to statistical machine learning
• Includes MATLAB/Octave programs so that readers can test the algorithms numerically and acquire both mathematical and practical skills in a wide range of data analysis tasks
• Discusses a wide range of applications in machine learning and statistics and provides examples drawn from image processing, speech processing, natural language processing, robot control, as well as biology, medicine, astronomy, physics, and materials

Masashi Sugiyama received the degrees of Bachelor of Engineering, Master of Engineering, and Doctor of Engineering in Computer Science from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan in 1997, 1999, and 2001, respectively. In 2001, he was appointed Assistant Professor in the same institute, and he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2003. He moved to the University of Tokyo as Professor in 2014. He received an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship and researched at Fraunhofer Institute, Berlin, Germany, from 2003 to 2004. In 2006, he received a European Commission Program Erasmus Mundus Scholarship and researched at the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. He received the Faculty Award from IBM in 2007 for his contribution to machine learning under non-stationarity, the Nagao Special Researcher Award from the Information Processing Society of Japan in 2011 and the Young Scientists' Prize from the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Japan for his contribution to the density-ratio paradigm of machine learning. His research interests include theories and algorithms of machine learning and data mining, and a wide range of applications such as signal processing, image processing, and robot control.