Computer Vision Basics in Microsoft Excel

In this very unique and fun work, we’ll learn Computer Vision from very basics using sample algorithms implemented within Microsoft Excel, using plain-old Excel formulas! We use a surprise trick that helps us demonstrate and visualize algorithms like Face Detection, Convolutional Neuron, etc., within Excel. No external libraries, no scripts, no plugins are used.

After having delivered lectures based on these Excel files seven times so far, including at two colleges, we are open sourcing these under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), courtesy of Amazon.

That was a very unique talk, great that you are sharing it to a wider audience!

István Fehérvári, PhD, Sr. Machine Learning Scientist

Detailed instructions, along with the Excel files, are available here: https://github.com/amzn/computer-vision-basics-in-microsoft-excel

Hacker News discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22357374

Addendum (Feb. 23, 2020)

Thanks everyone for an overwhelming response on the social media (Hacker News, Github, Twitter, LinkedIn, et al). Collectively, the work has seen (as of writing):

• 44,291 views from 29,314 unique visitors (Github)
• 4,634 likes (Github, Twitter, Hacker News, LinkedIn)
• 1,552 downloads (Github)
• 582 shares (Twitter, LinkedIn)
• 144 comments (Hacker News, LinkedIn, Twitter)

Finally, at least one person has pirated the work already: h***s://excelexamples.com/post/computer-vision-basics-in-microsoft-excel-using-just-formulas/

References:

1. Github Traffic Statistics
2. Hacker News story
3. Twitter sets [1, 2, 3]. Special thanks to the following people for the top tweets:
   • David Ha [1, 2]: Tweet
   • Takashi J Ozaki [1, 2]
   • Marty Kemka [1, 2]: Tweet
4. LinkedIn:
   • Post by AbdulMajedRaja RS (Thanks!)
   • Others: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Thanks!)
   • My post in my own profile
   • My post in Excel Users Group
   • My post in Computer Vision and Pattern Matching

Cover Photo: Manish Kumar