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In this context, are bias and variance always related to MSE, or only when the cost function for the statistical learning method is related to MSE?

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    $\begingroup$ In which context? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 2, 2016 at 12:03
  • $\begingroup$ In the context of machine learning "bias variance tradeoff" question $\endgroup$
    – user_anon
    Commented Sep 2, 2016 at 12:11
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    $\begingroup$ Although this question seems to be arising from a confusion, it is possible to answer (+1 to @StudentT below). IMO, it can stay open. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 2, 2016 at 12:28

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I think you're totally confused. Bias/variance relates how well your model fits relative to overfitting and underfitting. MSE is simply one of the many possible measures we can use to quantify how well a model performs.

High bias can be measured by very high MSE and high variance can be measured by very low MSE.

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    $\begingroup$ Low bias would normally be associated with overfitting. Think about Lasso or ridge regression where bias is induced to avoid overfitting. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 2, 2016 at 12:35
  • $\begingroup$ @RichardHardy I think I've given the wrong orders, edited. $\endgroup$
    – SmallChess
    Commented Sep 2, 2016 at 12:45
  • $\begingroup$ I was looking on wikipedia at "Bias–variance decomposition of squared error" from here. I thought bias and variance "exist" only when we talk about MSE. So, reading your answer, it is not. Thanks! :) $\endgroup$
    – user_anon
    Commented Sep 2, 2016 at 13:58

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