Foundations
Condition Number
The ratio σ_max/σ_min of a matrix's singular values; a measure of how elongated the loss surface is.
Why interviewers ask about it
Feature standardisation, BatchNorm/LayerNorm and Adam's per-parameter scaling are all conditioning fixes. Framing them that way sounds senior.
Related terms
This term is part of the free AI/ML Engineer interview preparation module - browse the full glossary for every definition.