Machine Learning Algorithms - Second Edition

Descriptive analysis

Before trying any machine learning solution, it's necessary to create an abstract description of the context. The best way to achieve this goal is to define a mathematical model, which has the advantage of being immediately comprehensible by anybody (assuming the basic knowledge). However, the goal of descriptive analysis is to find out an accurate description of the phenomena that are observed and validate all the hypothesis. Let's suppose that our task is to optimize the supply chain of a large store. We start collecting data about purchases and sales and, after a discussion with a manager, we define the generic hypotheses that the sales volume increases during the day before the weekend. This means that our model should ...