An Introduction to Artificial Neural Networks ( ANN ) - Methods , Abstraction , and Usage

An artificial neural network (ANN) reflects a system that is based on operations of biological neural networks and hence can be defined as an emulation of biological neural systems. ANN's are at the forefront of computational systems designed to produce, or at least mimic, intelligent behavior. Unlike classical Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems that are designed to directly emulate rational, logical reasoning, neural networks aim at reproducing the underlying processing mechanisms that give rise to intelligence as an emergent property of complex, adaptive systems. Neural network systems have successfully been developed and deployed to solve pattern recognition, capacity planning, business intelligence, robotics, or intuitive problem related aspects. In computer science, neural networks gained a lot of steam over the last few years in areas such forecasting, data analytics, as well as data mining.