Week Map — Neural Networks and Language Models

Week Map

For a first encounter, start with one complete prediction. The table below gives the semester order. Each weekly page now includes the calculations needed for its main argument and checkpoints with answers. nn-llm-resources contains the PDF and experiments; nn-llm-glossary helps with unfamiliar terminology.

All fifteen notes have received a pedagogical revision and remain draft. The revised text awaits the instructor’s scientific and pedagogical review; automated checks do not establish classroom effectiveness. final is reserved for reviewed and approved material. See nn-llm-note-quality-template.

Wk	Note	Book	Practical	Status
1	Inferring a distribution from observations	Ch. 1 §1.1–1.4	guided calculation	draft
2	Transfer matrix, correlation length, and what a finite text can show	Ch. 1 §1.5–1.7	Laboratory 1	draft
3	The perceptron and the space of interactions	Ch. 2 §2.1–2.3	replicas I	draft
4	Gardner’s capacity calculation	Ch. 2 §2.4; §2.5 optional	replicas II	draft
5	Hopfield dynamics and the meaning of a capacity	Ch. 2 §2.6–2.7	Laboratory 2	draft
6	Dense memory, and attention derived from an energy	Ch. 2 §2.8–2.11	Laboratory 3	draft
7	Representations and position	Ch. 3 §3.1–3.2	block inspection	draft
8	One head, and a decoder computed by hand	Ch. 3 §3.3–3.4	Laboratory 4 I	draft
9	Four indices: depth, iteration, position, training step	Ch. 3 §3.5	Laboratory 4 II	draft
10	Gradients, stochastic updates, generation	Ch. 3 §3.6–3.7	Laboratory 4 III	draft
11	Particles on a sphere, and observables of a trained model	Ch. 4 §4.1–4.2	Laboratory 5	draft
12	The inverse Potts problem and factored attention	Ch. 4 §4.3–4.4	Laboratory 6	draft
13	Scaling, grokking, and the standard of a transition	Ch. 4 §4.5–4.6	Laboratory 7	draft
14	Diffusion, the reverse equation, and when thermodynamics applies	Ch. 5	Laboratory 8	draft
15	Project seminars, and what the course established	—	seminars	draft

Supplement

Note	Book	Status
Linearized learning and the interpolation peak	Ch. 2 §2.5	draft

Optional reading after Weeks 3–4. It has no lecture hours in the current syllabus document; see nn-llm-syllabus §6.

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Instructor planning pages

The block skeletons are planning aids, not an additional required reading path.

• nn-llm-unit-0 — Weeks 1–2
• nn-llm-unit-1 — Weeks 3–6
• nn-llm-unit-2 — Weeks 7–10
• nn-llm-unit-3 — Weeks 11–13
• nn-llm-unit-4 — Week 14

Related

• nn-llm-syllabus, nn-llm-conventions, nn-llm-bibliography