Singla Lab IIT Roorkee

Teaching · Autumn 2026–27 · running now

BEC-351

Fundamentals of AI/ML

Where the field came from, the mathematics underneath it, and how to tell whether a model is any good.

मूलं हि शस्यं वर्धते नितान्तं
मूलं हि विद्या वर्धते नितान्तम्।
मूलं हि सर्वस्य भवन्ति मूलं
मूलं न सन्देहकृतं हि लोके॥

Just as the root is essential for the growth of a plant, the fundamentals of knowledge are crucial for its development. The root is the basis of everything; there is no doubt about this in the world.

Course information

Instructor

Jitin Singla · jsingla@bt.iitr.ac.in

Lectures

Mon & Thu · 4:05–5:00 PM
Fri · 5:05–6:00 PM

Venue

GB-003

Office hours

To be announced
Room 211, BSBE Department

Discussion

Piazza

Objectives

  • Comprehend the historical evolution and foundational concepts of AI/ML.
  • Build mathematical intuition for machine learning principles.
  • Explore core theoretical frameworks and evaluation strategies.

Prerequisites

  • Python programming

Course content

  • Historical development and evolution of AI/ML
  • Key terminology
  • Linear algebra and probability review
  • Theoretical underpinnings of learning from data
  • How energy functions and loss functions guide model training and evaluation
  • Various loss functions
  • First-order optimization: gradient descent (GD) and stochastic gradient descent (SGD)
  • Basics of constrained optimization and its relevance in training
  • Hyperparameter tuning strategies
  • Validation techniques to assess model generalization
  • Evaluation metrics to measure and compare models
  • Bayesian inference in machine learning

Schedule

#TopicSlides / essential readingAdditionalHomework
1Course infoLecture 0The Imitation Game
2Intro and historyLecture 1 · Trends in computeAlphaGo
3Linear algebra reviewLA notes · Norms · Quadratic functionsMatrix calculus

References and resources

Recommended text

  • Probabilistic Machine Learning: An Introduction, Kevin Murphy. MIT Press, 2022.

Supplementary

Watch

Evaluation

30% Continuous assessment (CWS)Announced and surprise quizzes
30% Mid-term exam (MTE)
40% End-term exam (ETE)

Tentative.

Question papers

  • Autumn 2025–26MTE · ETE