Gradient descent is a powerful optimization algorithm used in machine learning to minimize a function, often a cost function, by iteratively adjusting parameters. It works by taking steps in the direction of the negative gradient, which is the direction of steepest decrease of the function. This process continues until the algorithm converges to a minimum point.  1. The Goal: In machine learning, the goal is often to find the best set of parameters (weights and biases) for a model that minimizes the error or cost when predicting outputs from inputs. Gradient descent is a method to achieve this. 2. The Cost Function: A cost function (also called a loss function) quantifies the error of the model’s predictions. The goal of gradient descent is to find the parameters that minimize this cost function. 3. The Gradient: The gradient of a function at a given point represents the direction of the steepest ascent. In other words, it indicates the direction in which the function’s value increases the most. 4. The Iterative Process: 5. Different Variants: 6. Importance of Learning Rate: The learning rate (also known as step size) is a crucial hyperparameter. It determines the size of the steps taken during parameter updates. If the learning rate is too large, the algorithm may overshoot the minimum and fail to converge. If it’s too small, convergence may be slow.  Like Related Posts AI Automated Offers with Marketing Cloud Personalization AI-Powered Offers Elevate the relevance of each customer interaction on your website and app through Einstein Decisions. Driven by a Read more Salesforce OEM AppExchange Expanding its reach beyond CRM, Salesforce.com has launched a new service called AppExchange OEM Edition, aimed at non-CRM service providers. Read more The Salesforce Story In Marc Benioff’s own words How did salesforce.com grow from a start up in a rented apartment into the world’s Read more Salesforce Jigsaw Salesforce.com, a prominent figure in cloud computing, has finalized a deal to acquire Jigsaw, a wiki-style business contact database, for Read more