Machine Learning Algorithms - Second Edition

Predictive analysis

The goal of machine learning is almost related to this precise stage. In fact, once we have defined a model of our system, we need to infer its future states, given some initial conditions. This process is based on the discovery of the rules that underlie the phenomenon so as to push them forward in time (in the case of a time series) and observe the results. Of course, the goal of a predictive model is to minimize the error between actual and predictive value, considering all possible interfering factors.

In the example of the large store, a good model should be able to forecast a peak before a day off and a normal behavior in all the other cases. Moreover, once a predictive model has been defined and trained, it can ...