Practical Predictive Analytics

Generating the data using probability functions

Rather than use a pre-existing dataset, we will generate our own data by using some built-in sampling and probability functions. This will be a valuable way to learn how to perform analysis, since it will enable you to alter the makeup of your own data and observe how it changes the models produced. Some of the code that you will see also incorporate some of the concepts of reproducible research that we discussed in Chapter 1, Getting Started with Predictive Analytics.

To ensure that these examples run correctly, make sure that setwd() is set to the correct folder on your computer. This function is illustrated in the first few lines of the following code. In addition to setwd(), you will also ...