AIExplainer
Machine Learning Mathematics Intermediate 2 min read

What is L2 loss?

A measure of the difference between predicted and actual values in machine learning

L2 loss, also known as mean squared error, is a way to calculate how far off a model's predictions are from the actual values. It does this by taking the average of the squared differences between each predicted and actual value.

Imagine you're trying to hit a target with arrows. L2 loss is like measuring the total distance of all your missed shots from the center of the target. The higher the L2 loss, the farther your shots are from the target on average.

A company uses L2 loss to train a model that predicts house prices based on features like number of rooms and location. By minimizing the L2 loss, the model becomes more accurate in its predictions, helping the company make better decisions.

L2 loss is used as a loss function in machine learning to train models, especially in regression problems. The goal is to minimize the L2 loss, which means the model is getting better at making accurate predictions.

Some people think L2 loss is the only measure of a model's performance, but there are other important metrics like accuracy and precision that should also be considered.

The concept of L2 loss has been around since the early days of machine learning and statistics, but its application in deep learning has become more widespread with the development of more complex models.

mean squared error MSE squared error loss

Three products for different needs — explore what’s relevant to you.