Imperial College's specialisation covering the maths that machine learning relies on — linear algebra, multivariable calculus and PCA. It is applied and intuition-led rather than proof-heavy, aimed at filling the maths gap before or alongside an ML course.
Good for: Learners who want the maths behind machine learning without a pure-maths course.
Less suitable if: You already have a strong maths background, or you want rigorous proofs.
Skills you'll gain
Linear algebraMultivariable calculusPCAVectors and matricesOptimisation basicsMaths for ML
Is this course right for you?
A good fit if you…
You want the maths for ML
You prefer intuition over proofs
You have school-level maths
Consider something else if you…
You already have strong maths
You want rigorous proofs
You want to skip straight to models
Requirements: School-level maths; some Python for the exercises.
Realistic time: Around 120 hours across three courses; two to three months part-time.
About this course
Mathematics for Machine Learning is the missing piece in most practitioners' ML education — it teaches the mathematics that underpins the algorithms, not just the algorithms themselves. Three courses cover linear algebra (vectors, matrices, eigenvalues — why matrix operations work the way they do), multivariate calculus (partial derivatives, the chain rule as the foundation of backpropagation, optimization), and PCA (dimensionality reduction from first mathematical principles). All three are taught by Imperial College London faculty, implemented in Python.
What you'll learn
Apply linear algebra operations and understand their geometric interpretation
Compute partial derivatives and understand gradient descent from first principles
Understand eigenvectors and eigenvalues and their role in ML algorithms
Implement PCA from scratch using the mathematical foundations
Read and interpret mathematical notation in ML research papers
This course includes
120h
On-demand video
Yes
Certificate
Yes
Mobile access
English
Language
What it costs
Free to audit on Coursera; the certificate needs a subscription, with financial aid available.
Comparison · LBS
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The certificate is issued through Coursera with Imperial College London. The understanding you gain matters more than the certificate itself.
Instructor
MD
Marc Deisenroth / A. Aldo Faisal / Cheng Soon Ong
Coursera instructor
540K+ learners3 courses4.7 instructor rating
Taught by Marc Deisenroth, A. Aldo Faisal, and Cheng Soon Ong — Imperial College London faculty and co-authors of the textbook 'Mathematics for Machine Learning.'