Hands-On Predictive Analytics with Python

Reviewing important concepts of predictive analytics

In this section, we introduce and clarify the meaning of some of the terms we will be using throughout the book. Part of what is confusing for beginners in this field is sometimes the terminologies. There are many words for the same concept. One extreme example is variable, feature, attribute, independent variable, predictor, regressor, covariate, explanatory variable, input, and factor: they all may refer to the same thing! The reason for this (I must admit) shameful situation is that many practitioners of predictive analytics come from different fields (statistics, econometrics, computer science, operations research, and so on) and their community has its own way to name things, so when ...