The Backpropagation Algorithm Functions for the Multilayer Perceptron

The attempts for solving linear unseparable problems have led to different variations on the number of layers of neurons and activation functions used. The backpropagation algorithm is the most known and used supervised learning algorithm. Also called the generalized delta algorithm because it expands the training way of the adaline network, it is based on minimizing the difference between the desired output and the actual output, through the downward gradient method (the gradient tells us how a function varies in different directions). Training a multilayer perceptron is often quite slow, requiring thousands or tens of thousands of epochs for complex problems. The best known methods to accelerate learning are: the momentum method and applying a variable learning rate. Key-Words:Backpropagation algorithm, Gradient method, Multilayer perceptron.