Loss functions are an essential component of deep learning, used to evaluate how well a specific algorithm models the given data. The goal of a neural network is to minimize the difference between the predicted output and the actual output, which is quantified by the loss function. The value of the loss function provides a quantitative measure of the model’s performance, and the selection of the loss function depends on the specific type of problem being solved. Loss functions are also central to back propagation, a method used to calculate the gradient of the loss function, which is essential for updating the weights in the network.