<p>[Too long for a comment.] The question will probably get downvoted and closed, but before that happens, let me try to explain why. This is <em>theoretical computer science</em>, where we deal with formally statable and provable claims. A claim such as, "the problem of telling cats apart from dogs is only solvable by machine learning" is not a formal statement. Meaning: as stated, it's not even true or false, just ill-defined. Worse yet, I don't think it admits any meaningful formalization.</p>

<p>Now just so you don't walk away empty-handed, there is a whole host of problems where machine learning currently outperforms all other approaches. Certainly object recognition is one of those problems.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-29T12:39:18.287Z
2018-01-01T07:59:01.373Z
2018-01-01T07:59:01.373Z
Aryeh
<p>Wikipedia defines machine learning as the "field of computer science that gives computers the ability to learn without being <em>explicitly</em> programmed". A common example of a problem which machine learning is good at solving would be for example image categorization. It would presumably be incredibly difficult to write an <em>explicit</em> algorithm that would analyze pictures pixel by pixel and tell apart dogs from cats, for example, so it's easier to just use some sort of supervised learning strategy and feed it a lot of pre-categorized pictures of cats and dogs.</p>

<p>Now, how to I name this category of problems (e.g. telling dogs from cats)? Is there a particular name?</p>

<p>PS: In case this is relevant, I'm not a specialist in machine learning. My degree is in computer engineering and I work as a software developer but I'm doing a master's in analytic philosophy and I think this concept would be helpful for an essay I have to write for philosophical logic.</p>

<machine-learning>
What is the name of the category of problems that can only be solved with machine learning?
Ariel
# What is the name of the category of problems that can only be solved with machine learning?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-12-29)

Wikipedia defines machine learning as the "field of computer science that gives computers the ability to learn without being *explicitly* programmed". A common example of a problem which machine learning is good at solving would be for example image categorization. It would presumably be incredibly difficult to write an *explicit* algorithm that would analyze pictures pixel by pixel and tell apart dogs from cats, for example, so it's easier to just use some sort of supervised learning strategy and feed it a lot of pre-categorized pictures of cats and dogs.

Now, how to I name this category of problems (e.g. telling dogs from cats)? Is there a particular name?

PS: In case this is relevant, I'm not a specialist in machine learning. My degree is in computer engineering and I work as a software developer but I'm doing a master's in analytic philosophy and I think this concept would be helpful for an essay I have to write for philosophical logic.

**Tags:** machine-learning

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-12-29. Score: 2

[Too long for a comment.] The question will probably get downvoted and closed, but before that happens, let me try to explain why. This is *theoretical computer science*, where we deal with formally statable and provable claims. A claim such as, "the problem of telling cats apart from dogs is only solvable by machine learning" is not a formal statement. Meaning: as stated, it's not even true or false, just ill-defined. Worse yet, I don't think it admits any meaningful formalization.

Now just so you don't walk away empty-handed, there is a whole host of problems where machine learning currently outperforms all other approaches. Certainly object recognition is one of those problems.


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