Mastering Predictive Analytics with R - Second Edition

Chapter 7. Tree-Based Methods

In this chapter, we are going to present one of the most intuitive ways to create a predictive model—using the concept of a tree. Tree-based models, often also known as decision tree models, are successfully used to handle both regression and classification type problems. We'll explore both scenarios in this chapter, and we'll be looking at a range of different algorithms that are effective in training these models. We will also learn about a number of useful properties that these models possess, such as their ability to handle missing data and the fact that they are highly interpretable.

The intuition for tree models

A decision tree is a model with a very straightforward structure that allows us to make a prediction ...