Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

jffry

> Not sure if there's a name for that.

Hill climbing! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_climbing

Basically: Go in any direction that makes the number go up. Repeat.

View on HN

Gradient ascent?

Or gradient descent if you mentally negate the number in question. It's the same thing.

I think hill-climbing rejects updates that would worsen the objective while gradient descent usually doesn‘t

you need a second rule: "Don't go in any direction that makes the number go down." That way, when you're on top of it, you know to stop.

No you don't. Go in the upward direction implies don't go in the downward direction

I don't agree that that wording is as precise as you think it is. if you move in the direction where the signal goes up, when it stops going up, you are still moving in the same direction. Move "so long as the signal goes up" would tell you to stop, but it wouldn't tell you the direction, is the type of clarity I'm looking for.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com