STATS 202B: Matrix Algebra and Optimization

Graduate course, UCLA, 2023

This course introduces students to algorithms and their theoretical underpinnings extensively used in modern machine learning. It covers

  • first order methods, including gradient descent and its variants;
  • conditions for optimality for convex;
  • constrained optimization problems and basics of duality theory;
  • challenges posed by non-convex problems.

This course is offered in Winter Quarter 2025, Winter Quarter 2024, Winter Quarter 2023