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Foundations of Reinforcement Learning and Interactive Decision Making

Machine Learning 2023-12-29 v1 Optimization and Control Statistics Theory Machine Learning Statistics Theory

Abstract

These lecture notes give a statistical perspective on the foundations of reinforcement learning and interactive decision making. We present a unifying framework for addressing the exploration-exploitation dilemma using frequentist and Bayesian approaches, with connections and parallels between supervised learning/estimation and decision making as an overarching theme. Special attention is paid to function approximation and flexible model classes such as neural networks. Topics covered include multi-armed and contextual bandits, structured bandits, and reinforcement learning with high-dimensional feedback.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2312.16730,
  title  = {Foundations of Reinforcement Learning and Interactive Decision Making},
  author = {Dylan J. Foster and Alexander Rakhlin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2312.16730},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T14:03:14.842Z