Tree-Based Machine Learning Methods in SAS Viya

Chapter 1: Introduction to Tree-Structured Models

Introduction

“Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right.”

–Phil McGraw

A decision tree has many analogies in real life. In decision analysis, a tree can be used to represent decisions and decision making visually and explicitly. As the name suggests, it uses a tree-like model of decisions.

The adjective decision in decision trees is a curious one, and misleading. In the 1960s, originators of the tree approach described the splitting rules as decision rules. The terminology remains popular. This is ill-fated because it inhibits the use of ideas and terminology from decision theory. The term decision tree is used in decision theory to depict a series of decisions ...