In optimization, a plateau refers to a flat region in the objective function where the gradient is close to zero, indicating that the function's values remain relatively constant over a range of inputs. This can create challenges for optimization algorithms, as they may struggle to find a direction for improvement when encountering such flat areas. A plateau can lead to slow convergence or even cause methods like Newton's method to become stuck.
congrats on reading the definition of Plateau. now let's actually learn it.