title: What is a loss function in simple words?
body: <p>Can anyone please explain in simple words and possibly with some examples what is a <strong>loss function</strong> in the field of machine learning/neural networks?</p>
  
  <p>This came out while I was following a Tensorflow tutorial:
  <a href="https://www.tensorflow.org/get_started/get_started" rel="noreferrer">https://www.tensorflow.org/get_started/get_started</a></p>