← All parts of this equation

Equation 1 · Part 8 · Comparing the Main Approaches to Robotics and Embodied AI

subtraction

Q(s,a)←Q(s,a)+α[r+γmax⁡a′Q(s′,a′)−Q(s,a)]Q(s,a) \leftarrow Q(s,a) + \alpha \left[ r + \gamma \max_{a'} Q(s',a') - Q(s,a) \right]
subtraction

What this part means

Subtract the following term or group from the preceding one. A leading minus marks a negative quantity.

Its job in the formula

Subtract the following term or group from the preceding one. A leading minus marks a negative quantity.

The passage around this formula

A model-free update never references a transition model. A canonical form, temporal-difference learning, updates a value estimate purely from sampled transitions: Q(s,a)←Q(s,a)+α[r+γmax⁡a′Q(s′,a′)−Q(s,a)]Q(s,a) \leftarrow Q(s,a) + \alpha \left[ r + \gamma \max_{a'} Q(s',a') - Q(s,a) \right]. Nothing in this update requires knowing or estimating p(s' ∣\mid s, a) ; it only requires having experienced (s, a, r, s') . A model-based approach instead fits an explicit dynamics model p^θ(s′∣s,a)\hat{p}_\theta(s' \mid s, a) — a “world model” — and plans against it directly:

Read this part in the article →

Learn the underlying idea

Addition combines quantities; subtraction measures the signed difference between them. Parentheses show what is combined before the rest of the expression is evaluated.

Open the illustrated addition and subtraction in an equation guide →

Sources cited in the article section

These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.