The one powerline problem [lecture]. Why cost is X^2?

Course Q&A Math for Machine Learning Calculus for Machine Learning and Data Science
1

It might bu a silly question.
Why the cost of connection is X^2? The cost of cable work is proportional to the distance between the house and the powerline, so the cost should be a*X.

2 Likes
2

Hi!

This is a given information: The cost is given by the distance squared. This is just a simple example to motivate opimization. The idea is to have a story to motivate it and a function more complex than linear to work with.

Thanks,
Lucas

4 Likes