Practical Predictive Analytics

Types of decision tree algorithms

In R, two types of decision tree algorithms are illustrated. We will first look at the traditional algorithm, known as rpart and we will analyze the state.x77 data to determine life expectancy, based upon a number of attributes.

Here is a description of the metadata for the state.x77 data. You can also get more information able this table by entering ?x77.data at the R console.

Population	Population estimate as of July 1, 1975
Income	Per capita income (1974)
Illiteracy	Illiteracy (1970, percent of population)
Life experience	Life expectancy in years (1969-71)
Murder	Murder and non-negligent manslaughter rate per 100,000 population (1976)
HS graduate	Percentage high-school ...