Understanding Overfitting and Underfitting Without Any Math
If machine learning were a school subject, overfitting and underfitting would be two common mistakes students make when preparing for a test. One student memorizes everything but can’t apply it to new questions. That’s overfitting . The other barely studies and can’t answer even the simplest question. That’s underfitting . Let’s explore what these terms mean in simple, real-world language—and why they matter so much in building smart models. 🎯 The Goal: A Well-Balanced Model When we train a machine learning model, we want it to learn from data—not just copy it or ignore it. The ideal model: Learns the patterns in the training data Applies that knowledge to new, unseen data Makes accurate predictions without being confused by small changes But sometimes things go wrong. And that’s where overfitting and underfitting come in. 📚 Overfitting: Learning Too Much Imagine a student who memorizes every single detail from their textbook—i...