Support vector machines (SVMs) create a boundary called a hyperplane to divide data points into partitions. The goal is to make the partitions as homogeneous as possible. SVMs can be adapted for classification or prediction tasks. They work by mapping data into a higher dimensional space to find linear separability. Neural networks model the relationship between input and output signals, similar to biological neurons. They use a network of artificial neurons to solve learning problems. Each neuron receives weighted inputs that are summed and passed through an activation function to produce an output. The topology of a neural network, such as the number of layers and nodes, affects its ability to learn.