Chapter 6

Tools and Data for Machine Learning Projects

IN THIS CHAPTER

check Types of machine learning

check Working with the UCI Machine Learning repository

check Understanding the iris dataset

check Introducing the rattle package

check Using rattle with the iris dataset

Machine learning (ML) is the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to statistics and statistical analysis. ML techniques automate the search for patterns in data. Sometimes, the objective is to figure out a rule for classifying individuals based on their characteristics: For example, does a particular X-ray mean the X-rayed person is sick or well? Is a particular flower a member of one species or another?

In other efforts, the objective is prediction: Given a sequence of stock market data, will the market go up or down? Given the last three days of weather data, will it rain tomorrow or not?

Think of the characteristics of the X-rays or flowers (or the stock market or weather) as inputs. Think of the targets (sick or well, rain or shine) ...

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