Book Image

Learning Predictive Analytics with Python

By : Ashish Kumar, Gary Dougan
Book Image

Learning Predictive Analytics with Python

By: Ashish Kumar, Gary Dougan

Overview of this book

Social Media and the Internet of Things have resulted in an avalanche of data. Data is powerful but not in its raw form - It needs to be processed and modeled, and Python is one of the most robust tools out there to do so. It has an array of packages for predictive modeling and a suite of IDEs to choose from. Learning to predict who would win, lose, buy, lie, or die with Python is an indispensable skill set to have in this data age. This book is your guide to getting started with Predictive Analytics using Python. You will see how to process data and make predictive models from it. We balance both statistical and mathematical concepts, and implement them in Python using libraries such as pandas, scikit-learn, and numpy. You’ll start by getting an understanding of the basics of predictive modeling, then you will see how to cleanse your data of impurities and get it ready it for predictive modeling. You will also learn more about the best predictive modeling algorithms such as Linear Regression, Decision Trees, and Logistic Regression. Finally, you will see the best practices in predictive modeling, as well as the different applications of predictive modeling in the modern world.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Learning Predictive Analytics with Python
Credits
Foreword
About the Author
Acknowledgments
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
A List of Links
Index

Generating random numbers and their usage


Random numbers are just like any other number in their property except for the fact that they assume a different value every time the call statement to generate a random number is executed. Random number generating methods use certain algorithms to generate different numbers every time, which are beyond the scope of this book. However, after a finitely large period, they might start generating the already generated numbers. In that sense, these numbers are not truly random and are sometimes called pseudo-random numbers.

In spite of them actually being pseudo-random, these numbers can be assumed to be random for all practical purposes. These numbers are of critical importance to predictive analysts because of the following points:

  • They allow analysts to perform simulations for probabilistic multicase scenarios

  • They can be used to generate dummy data frames or columns of a data frame that are needed in the analysis

  • They can be used for the random sampling...