multi-armed bandit

noun

multi-armed bandit

noun

Etymology From one-armed bandit, by analogy with a gambler at a row of slot machines who has to decide how best to play them.

1

Mathematics, Probability theory, Sciences An algorithm that allocates a fixed limited set of resources between competing alternative choices so as to maximize the expected gain, when each choice's properties are only partially known at the time of allocation, and may become better understood as time passes or allocations are made.

Machine learning

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.