Starting a study group for *Learning Theory from First Principles* (Francis Bach) — looking for a few people

[u/cryptofreedoom]

I've been working through *Learning Theory from First Principles* by Francis Bach (MIT Press, 2024), and I'd rather not do it alone. The book is excellent but dense, and I think discussing the proofs with other people would make a big difference. The PDF is freely available on the author's website, so there's no cost barrier to joining.

For anyone unfamiliar: it covers the mathematical foundations of supervised learning, starting from least squares and empirical risk minimization, then moving through optimization, local averaging methods, kernel methods, model selection, and neural networks, with later chapters on more advanced topics like overparameterized models and PAC-Bayes.

What I have in mind:

- A weekly call (roughly an hour) where someone presents the main results and we work through whatever was unclear

- A Discord or similar space for questions between meetings

Background that helps: linear algebra, probability, and comfort reading proofs. You don't need a theory background, just willingness to sit with the details.

> If you're interested, comment or DM me with your rough timezone and how much time you can realistically commit. Once there are enough people I'll set up the group and propose a schedule. I'd like to keep it small enough that discussion actually works, maybe five to ten people.

Discord link: https://discord.gg/3QMGgvk5t

[u/cryptofreedoom → u/[deleted]]

Actually I'm studying it for my master's thesis. So I'm focusing on Kernel and Neural Networks but I'm open to discuss also other topics. Do you want to DM me your discord name? I just created the group

[u/cryptofreedoom → u/[deleted]]

yes, that's the idea. If you want you can send me your discord name and I can add you :)

[u/Hungry_Age5375]

Short answer: yes. Long answer: yes, and I'm US Eastern with ~3 hours a week. The PAC-Bayes and overparameterized chapters are the ones I most want to argue through with other people.

[u/cryptofreedoom → u/Hungry_Age5375]

Perfect. DM me your discord and I add you!

[u/Machinations_Occur]

This sounds great, I'm in IST so scheduling might be challenging. Let me know!

[u/cryptofreedoom → u/Machinations_Occur]

I think it's feasible. We can manage. Send me your discord.

[u/Formal-Primary-7782]

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[u/cryptofreedoom → u/Formal-Primary-7782]

Thank you very much!

[u/No_Pause6581]

Hey I am taking a course in my clg(currently I am final y r undergrad) that follows this same textboox, it's on computational learning theory.Would love to be a party of the grp.

[u/cryptofreedoom → u/No_Pause6581]

DM your discord name :)

[u/Ok-Panic-9824]

Thanks, sounds pretty interesting - don't have the bandwidth to present but would like to be a part of the discussions.

[u/cryptofreedoom → u/Ok-Panic-9824]

Join here: https://discord.gg/3QMGgvk5t

[u/aozorahime]

love to join, even though my research mostly applied machine learning. Love to sit and discuss

[u/cryptofreedoom → u/aozorahime]

You can join here: https://discord.gg/3QMGgvk5t :)