Optimization is the process of choosing the best settings or configuration of a text analytics system to maximize its performance on a specific task. This may involve finding the best values for parameters such as:
- the number of topics to extract in topic modeling
- the size of the n-grams to use in language modeling
- the type of algorithm to use for text classification
Outside of the text analytics industry, optimization is used in a variety of fields, including engineering, operations research, and economics. In these fields, optimization may refer to finding the maximum or minimum value of a function or finding a solution that is “optimal” in some sense.
Similar Terms
Many other terms are similar to optimization, including:
- tuning
- parameter tuning
- configuration
- tweaking
- adjusting
Each of these terms refers to the process of changing the settings of a system to improve its performance. However, optimization is the most general term, and it can be used in any context where improving performance is desired.