Assumptions about the shape and structure of the function they try to learn, machine learning algorithms can be divided into two categories: parametric and nonparametric.
Parametric model
A learning model that summarizes data with a set of parameters of fixed size (independent of the number of training examples). No matter how much data you throw at a parametric model, it won’t change its mind about how many parameters it needs.
Some examples of parametric machine learning algorithms are:
- Linear Regression
- Linear Support Vector Machines
- Logistic Regression
- Naive Bayes
- Perceptron
Benefits of Parametric Machine Learning Algorithms:
- Simpler: These methods are easier to understand and interpret results.
- Faster: Parametric models are very fast to learn from data.
- Less traning Data: They do not require as much training data and can work well even if the fit to the data is not perfect.
Limitations of Parametric Machine Learning Algorithms:
- Highly Constrained: By choosing a functional form these methods are highly constrained to the specified form.
- Limited Complexity: The methods are more suited to simpler problems.
- Poor Fit: In practice the methods are unlikely to match the underlying mapping function.
Nonparametric models
Nonparametric methods are good when you have a lot of data and no prior knowledge, and when you don’t want to worry too much about choosing just the right features.
Some examples of nonparametric models are:
- Decision Trees
- K-Nearest Neighbor
- Support Vector Machines with Gaussian Kernels
- Artificial Neural Networks
Benefits of Nonparametric Machine Learning Algorithms:
- Flexibility: Capable of fitting a large number of functional forms.
- Power: No assumptions (or weak assumptions) about the underlying function.
- Performance: Can result in higher performance models for prediction.
Limitations of Nonparametric Machine Learning Algorithms:
- More data: Require a lot more training data to estimate the mapping function.
- Slower: A lot slower to train as they often have far more parameters to train.
- Overfitting: More of a risk to overfit the training data and it is harder to explain why specific predictions are made.
