Maths for ML / Notation

\theta^{*}

star

FunctionsIntermediate

Say it “theta star”

The best / optimal value of something.

Example

\theta^{*} = \arg\min_{\theta} L(\theta)

The parameters that minimize the loss.

Where you’ll see it in ML

Optimal parameters, optimal policy π* in RL.

Don’t confuse it with

$\arg\min_{\theta} L(\theta)$ arg min / arg max Not the smallest value itself, but the input that produces it.
$\theta$ theta (parameters) Shorthand for 'all the model's learnable parameters' bundled together.

Lessons that use it

Plain, bold and capital letters; hats, bars and stars

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