Book Image

Machine Learning with R

By : Brett Lantz
Book Image

Machine Learning with R

By: Brett Lantz

Overview of this book

Machine learning, at its core, is concerned with transforming data into actionable knowledge. This fact makes machine learning well-suited to the present-day era of "big data" and "data science". Given the growing prominence of R—a cross-platform, zero-cost statistical programming environment—there has never been a better time to start applying machine learning. Whether you are new to data science or a veteran, machine learning with R offers a powerful set of methods for quickly and easily gaining insight from your data. "Machine Learning with R" is a practical tutorial that uses hands-on examples to step through real-world application of machine learning. Without shying away from the technical details, we will explore Machine Learning with R using clear and practical examples. Well-suited to machine learning beginners or those with experience. Explore R to find the answer to all of your questions. How can we use machine learning to transform data into action? Using practical examples, we will explore how to prepare data for analysis, choose a machine learning method, and measure the success of the process. We will learn how to apply machine learning methods to a variety of common tasks including classification, prediction, forecasting, market basket analysis, and clustering. By applying the most effective machine learning methods to real-world problems, you will gain hands-on experience that will transform the way you think about data. "Machine Learning with R" will provide you with the analytical tools you need to quickly gain insight from complex data.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Machine Learning with R
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
9
Finding Groups of Data – Clustering with k-means
Index

Chapter 11. Improving Model Performance

When a sports team falls short of meeting its goal—whether it is to obtain an Olympic gold medal, a league championship, or a world record time—it must begin a process of searching for improvements to avoid a similar fate in the future. Imagine that you're the coach of such a team. How would you spend your practice sessions? Perhaps you'd direct the athletes to train harder or train differently in order to maximize every bit of their potential. Or, you might place a greater emphasis on teamwork, which could utilize the athletes' strengths and weaknesses more smartly.

Now imagine that you're the coach tasked with finding a world champion machine learning algorithm—perhaps to enter a competition, such as those posted on the Kaggle website (http://www.kaggle.com/competitions), to win the million dollar Netflix Prize (http://www.netflixprize.com/), or simply to improve the bottom line for your business. Where do you begin?

Although the context of the competition...