Predictive Analytics: Data Mining, Machine Learning and Data Science for Practitioners, 2nd Edition

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Introduction to Predictive Analytics and Data Mining

Data mining is one of the most important enablers of data analytics in general and predictive analytics in specific. Although its roots date back to the late 1980s and early 1990s, the most powerful data mining applications have been developed since the turn of the 21st century. Many people believe that the recent popularity of analytics can largely be credited to the increasing use of data mining, which is the process of extracting and providing much-needed insight and knowledge to decision makers at all levels of the managerial hierarchy. The term data mining was originally used to describe the process through which previously unknown patterns in data were discovered. Software vendors ...