CS 5789

Introduction to Reinforcement Learning

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

Reinforcement Learning is one of the most popular paradigms for modelling interactive learning and sequential decision making in dynamical environments. This course introduces the basics of Reinforcement Learning and Markov Decision Process. The course will cover algorithms for planning and learning in Markov Decision Processes. We will discuss potential applications of Reinforcement Learning and their implications. We will study and implement classic Reinforcement Learning algorithms.

Enrollment Priority Recommended prerequisite: CS 5780 or equivalent.

Last 4 Terms Offered 2025SP, 2024SP, 2023SP, 2022SP

Learning Outcomes

• Identify the differences between Reinforcement Learning and traditional Supervised Learning and grasp the key definitions of Markov Decision Processes.
• Analyze the performance of the class planning algorithms and learning algorithms for Markov Decision Process.
• Implement classic algorithms and demonstrate their performance on benchmarks.

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