Understanding the REINFORCE Estimator from Scratch

fpedregosa · x · 2026-07-13

This post shares and quotes a new blog series aimed at **understanding modern reinforcement learning algorithms from the ground up**. The first part covers the classic **REINFORCE** estimator: - How to derive an unbiased policy gradient **without differentiating through the environment** - And the **variance analysis** of this estimator The reposter mentioned that the author's blog is "more helpful than many books."

Related event: Understanding the REINFORCE Estimator from Scratch(2 posts)→

Original post →

More from Research

Research channel →