The Importance of Mathematics in Machine Learning

First and foremost, a model/algorithm is the heart of any Machine Learning project. If you know your math, selecting the right algorithm which includes giving considerations to accuracy, training time, model complexity, number of parameters and number of features, would be an absolute cakewalk for you. For a particular algorithm, choosing the parameter settings and validation strategies, and knowing why the values you chose to throw up a different accuracy than your friend's model. Understanding the behavior of a Machine Learning model on varying data is one of the chief foundations one should be aware of. Identifying underfitting and overfitting by understanding the Bias-Variance trade-off is impossible without knowing mathematics.