Definition
Predictive modeling
A data mining technique used to make predictions about future outcomes based on historical data.
Key Techniques in Predictive Modeling
1. Decision Tree Induction
Definition
Decision Tree
A flowchart-like structure where each internal node represents a test on an attribute, each branch represents the outcome of the test, and each leaf node represents a class label or a prediction.
- Decision trees are a popular method for predictive modeling due to their simplicity and interpretability.
- How Decision Trees Work:
- Splitting the Data: The tree starts with the entire dataset and splits it into subsets based on the value of an attribute.
- Recursive Partitioning: This process is repeated recursively for each subset, creating branches until a stopping criterion is met (e.g., all data in a subset belong to the same class).
- Prediction: To make a prediction, the model traverses the tree from the root to a leaf node, following the path determined by the input attributes.
- In a decision tree predicting whether a customer will buy a product, the first node might test if the customer's age is above 30.
- If yes, the tree might then test if the customer's income is above $50,000.
- Each path leads to a prediction (e.g., "will buy" or "will not buy").
2. Backpropagation in Neural Networks
Definition
Backpropagation
An algorithm used to train neural networks by adjusting the weights of connections between neurons to minimize prediction errors.
- Neural networks are powerful models inspired by the human brain, capable of capturing complex patterns in data.
