Topic: Science
So, after 3 years, I pull out my AI textbook, Artificial Intelligence, a Modern Approach (Stuart Russel, Peter Norvig). I took an AI class at the college in my small town. It was not offered before, and it sparked a lot of interest. That same year, 2004, an exhibit, Robots and Us, was at the Science Museum in St. Paul, MN. I didn't have to travel far to get my hands on robots that are generally only available in reserach labs at large universities. Some technologies I enjoyed were face recognition, robotic animals (that will someday walk up walls), and a sensory garden. That garden had flowers that would move toward you, or bloom when they sensed sound or movement--trippy!
As I browsed my text tonight, I found my old assignments and tests. It strikes me as miraculous, ok, not that big, but amazing that I was able to do the searching problems more accurately now even though I didn't get them quite right 3 years ago. The back of the book had a section on vectors in the math background section . I like linear algebra, so I worked a matrix problem. After solving it, realize I haven't had a math course since 1996 (it was a management science course), I decided I have to find out how it applies to AI.
Search engines use matrices to find relevance and ranking; this is only one method and does not scale well. Matrices are also used for cryptography, data mining, and sensory perception such as visual or haptic, like this electronic skin. Awesome-fresh.
