Foundations beginner

Neural Network

A model made of layers of connected units that pass numbers forward, loosely inspired by neurons.

A neural network takes an input as numbers, multiplies them by learned weights, applies a non-linear function, and passes the result to the next layer. Repeat this enough times with enough data and the network can approximate remarkably complex relationships. The ’neurons’ analogy is a historical label, not a claim about biology.

In practice: An image classifier is a neural network that turns 200,000 pixel values into one number per possible label.

Where this comes up