Algorithms of the Intelligent Web

Chapter 6. Combining classifiers

This chapter covers:

• Evaluating baselines for classifiers

• Comparing classifiers and understanding complex datasets

• The nuts and bolts of bootstrap aggregating

• Basics of boosting

Epictetus, an ancient Greek philosopher, proclaimed "One must neither tie a ship to a single anchor, nor life to a single hope." Similarly, we don't have to rely on a single classifier. No single classifier can provide infallible decision-making capability. In fact, there are plenty of examples that demonstrate the great potential of combining classifiers, and this chapter will provide an introduction to that fascinating subject. In the context of recommendation systems (see chapter 3), Bell, Koren, and Volinsky have recently employed similar ...