Probability concepts explained: Maximum likelihood estimation

In this post I'll explain what the maximum likelihood method for parameter estimation is and go through a simple example to demonstrate the method. Some of the content requires knowledge of fundamental probability concepts such as the definition of joint probability and independence of events. I've written a blog post with these prerequisites so feel free to read this if you think you need a refresher. Often in machine learning we use a model to describe the process that results in the data that are observed. For example, we may use a random forest model to classify whether customers may cancel a subscription from a service (known as churn modelling) or we may use a linear model to predict the revenue that will be generated for a company depending on how much they may spend on advertising (this would be an example of linear regression).