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MSCI 446Introduction to Machine Learning

Faculty
Engineering
Last listed
Spring 2024

No longer offered. It was in Waterloo’s course catalog since at least Winter 2020 (as far back as Open Data goes) to Spring 2024 and last ran in Winter 2024. It isn’t in the 2024–25 or later calendars.

When it ran

  1. F20
  2. W21
  3. W22
  4. F22
  5. W23
  6. F23
  7. W24

Ran in 7 terms, Fall 2020 to Winter 2024.

This course provides an introduction to machine learning, including supervised and unsupervised learning. Emphasis is placed on proper procedures for the training and testing of models. Topics covered may include data cleaning and transformation, overfitting and generalization, n-fold cross validation, regression, decision trees, neural networks, rule finding, and clustering. Students learn to apply machine learning methods to management engineering problems using common tools such as R and Python. [Offered: W]

Requirements, as last listed

Prereq:(One of BME 122, CS 240/240E, ECE 250, MSCI 240, MTE 140, SYDE 223);(One of BME 213,CHE 220,CIVE 224,ECE 306,307 ENVE 224,MSCI 252,253,ME 202,MTE 201,NE 215,STAT 206,231 241,SYDE 212);Level at least 3A.Antireq: CS 480, ECE 457B, SYDE 522

In today’s calendar

  • CS 480 lists it as an antirequisite
  • MSE 546 lists it in its requisites

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

37 posts and comments in 30 threads mention MSCI 446, May 2014 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Spring 2024

Course Selection for AI/ML + imaging 7 points, 6 comments

“I'm a TRON student trying to plan out my courses and wanted to see if anyone has input for any of the courses I've been eyeing regarding your personal experiences, difficulty, workload, content …”

u/ConsequenceNo3618: “… No image processing here https://www.youtube.com/@bghojogh/playlists MSCI 446 (w/Lukasz Golab): One of my favourite courses so far. Breadth course that covers various classical ML algorithms and goes into the basics of deep learning and explainable AI. …”

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Winter 2024

Best Intro to ML/AI course? 15 points, 14 comments

“After going through UWFlow, I found a shocking amount of Intro ML/AI courses like: CS 480: Introduction to Machine Learning CS 485: Statistical and Computational Foundations of Machine Learning CS …”

u/1000Ditto: “msci 452 isnt ML it's decisionmaking under uncertaitny why not just take cs480 then msci 546”

u/bomankleinn01: “My bad, i meant MSCI 446, imma change that”

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Interesting ML course from Engineering Department from Math Student 7 points, 8 comments

u/Novel_Brain9700: “… MSCI 446: Data Mining 2. MSCI 452: Decision Making Under Uncertainty 3. MSCI 623: Big Data Analytics 4. MSCI 641: Text Analytics 5. ECE 417: Image Processing or SYDE 575: Image Processing 6. ECE 457B: Fundamentals of Computational Intelligence (Winter) 7. …”

u/suiyui: “… since we all take similar courses in years 1-2 so we have the fundamental knowledge MSCI 446: Very introductory. Large scope and not much computation. Definitely the easiest out of them. Includes coding in the tutorials MSCI 546 // SYDE 572: Math-heavy and very in-depth. …”

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Fall 2023

Resume Building Courses 7 points, 2 comments

“List some courses preferably that requires no prerequisites or does, that teaches you software or any skill that would boost a resume. …”

u/suiyui: “… Should be easy to override unless class hits capacity - MSCI 245/342 Project based Full stack with Node/React - ECE 452 Software architecture and design - MSCI 446 Machine learning - MSCI 343 Human computer interaction for UI/UX design Difficult but rewarding - CS 341 Algorithms …”

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SYDE 552 vs. SYDE 556 vs. SYDE 572 1 point, 1 comment

“I'm struggling to decide which one to choose, and the comments in UWflow are from many years ago. Could someone who has taken any of these courses please share their insights on their usefulness and …”

u/suiyui: “Don't do SYDE 572, I'm taking it right now and it's pure math - not useful at all for machine learning”

u/suiyui: “… For project-based, go with another ML course, and for a bird/introductory/fun one, I suggest MSCI 446”

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MSCI Electives 1 point, 1 comment

u/ShapeBrave9547: “Would love to hear thoughts on some electives people have enjoyed in MSCI. Need to fill some elective requirements and was thinking of taking something bird like MSCI 311 or something more technical like MSCi 446 (but not sure how much value I can actually derive out of it).”

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CS 485? 1 point, 2 comments

“I'm considering taking CS 485 - Statistical and Computation Foundations of Machine Learning. I'm interested in applied ML more so than theoretical ML, so I'm wary of how hard it will be. …”

u/atifmi: “… CS 480, MSCI 446 cover more of the application of machine learning while doing some theory. topic specific machine learning application can be found in PHYS 449, ECON 424 and GEOG 484. …”

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Spring 2023

Any AI-related courses? Non-CS? 1 point, 5 comments

“hey there, just wondering if you all know of any AI related courses, that aren’t beginning with CS since I’m not a programmer. …”

u/_UW_Student: “Look into MSCI courses, pretty cool (but I think require alot of prereqs).”

u/1000Ditto: “https://uwflow.com/course/msci446 ML1 ( technical course ) https://uwflow.com/course/msci546 ML2 ( technical course ) https://uwflow.com/course/syde522 Foundations of AI ( technical course )”

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