How to compute Cost function for linear regression

Hi,
I am trying to compute cost function
I am using the following code:
function J = computeCost(X, y, theta)
%COMPUTECOST Compute cost for linear regression
% J = COMPUTECOST(X, y, theta) computes the cost of using theta as the
% parameter for linear regression to fit the data points in X and y
% Initialize some useful values
m = length(y); % number of training examples
% You need to return the following variables correctly
J = 0;
% ====================== YOUR CODE HERE ======================
% Instructions: Compute the cost of a particular choice of theta
% You should set J to the cost.
h = X * theta;
sError = (h - y) .^ 2;
J = sum(sError) / (2 * m);
% =========================================================================
end
.But I am getting the following error
Error in computeCost (line 7)
m = length(y); % number of training examples
.Please help

6 Comments

Hello,
in your code, what is "thetha" in
diff=thetha'*X - y;
thanks...sorry..it was typo mistake...I fixed it...its "theta" and not "thetha"...but still code not running
The error tell us that
Error in computeCostMulti (line 7)
but you show the function name
computeCost
they are not fit. Do you have the function "computeCostMulti"
Thanks for your kind help...Sorry ..actually...I pasted the code in the file with different name..i.e computeCostMulti....now I fixed it..its the same code...and the error message is ..
Error in computeCost (line 7)
m = length(y); % number of training examples
sorry...I forgot to mention...I just hit run to execute the program and I get this error message..
Do I have to run the function by inserting the values of x,y and theta???
Pls how do you submit answers

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Answers (10)

I believe than this is happen because you are running and trying to compile the function. Just save and to call than function from the other script.
open file submit.m and then run it.(don't run computeCost.m file, this will not work because its just function)

3 Comments

I don't understand, could you rephrase?
this is a nice answer
just use submit() then generate your token and run your answer

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initialize x y theta with values in the function
function J = computeCost(X, y, theta)
%COMPUTECOST Compute cost for linear regression
% J = COMPUTECOST(X, y, theta) computes the cost of using theta as the
% parameter for linear regression to fit the data points in X and y
% Initialize some useful values
m = length(y); % number of training examples
% You need to return the following variables correctly
J = 0;
% ====================== YOUR CODE HERE ======================
% Instructions: Compute the cost of a particular choice of theta
% You should set J to the cost.
J = (1/(2*m))*sum(((X*theta) - y).^2)
Try this, you will get it correct.
You say "sorry...I forgot to mention...I just hit run to execute the program and I get this error message.."
Well that is the whole problem. When you have a function that expects inputs like X, y, theta then you need to supply those inputs. You can't just click the green run triangle and expect somehow that doing that will automagically invent values for X, y, and theta. So you need to do something like
% Declare inputs:
X = rand(1,10);
y = rand(1, 10);
theta = 42;
% Now run the function:
result = computeCost(X, y, theta)
fprintf('Done with the program!\n');
%==========================================================================================
% Define the function:
function J = computeCost(X, y, theta)
%COMPUTECOST Compute cost for linear regression
% J = COMPUTECOST(X, y, theta) computes the cost of using theta as the
% parameter for linear regression to fit the data points in X and y
% Initialize some useful values
m = length(y); % number of training examples
% You need to return the following variables correctly
J = 0;
% ====================== YOUR CODE HERE ======================
% Instructions: Compute the cost of a particular choice of theta
% You should set J to the cost.
h = X * theta;
sError = (h - y) .^ 2;
J = sum(sError) / (2 * m);
end
As long as y is defined (like you assigned something to y before you called the function) then that line
m = length(y); % number of training examples
should work. However you didn't give the entire error message. You gave the line the error occurred on but not the actual error description. Why not? You need to include all the red text, not just some of it.
By the way you need to assign something for y, you can't just click the green Run triangle on the toolbar without assigning all the input variables.
If you meet errors in submitting, and your function is correct. Try to delete its .mlx file and submit it again.
function J = computeCost(X, y, theta)
%COMPUTECOST Compute cost for linear regression
% J = COMPUTECOST(X, y, theta) computes the cost of using theta as the
% parameter for linear regression to fit the data points in X and y
% Initialize some useful values
% number of training examples
% You need to return the following variables correctly
data = load('ex1data1.txt'); % read comma separated data
y = data(:, 2);
m = length(y); % number of training examples
X = [ones(m, 1), data(:,1)]; % Add a column of ones to x
theta = zeros(2, 1);
% ====================== YOUR CODE HERE ======================
% Instructions: Compute the cost of a particular choice of theta
% You should set J to the cost.
J = 0;
J = 1/(2*m) * (X * theta - y)' * (X * theta - y); % vectorized form
% =========================================================================
end

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Asked:

on 22 Jun 2019

Commented:

on 12 Dec 2022

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