Book Image

Applied Supervised Learning with Python

By : Benjamin Johnston, Ishita Mathur
Book Image

Applied Supervised Learning with Python

By: Benjamin Johnston, Ishita Mathur

Overview of this book

Machine learning—the ability of a machine to give right answers based on input data—has revolutionized the way we do business. Applied Supervised Learning with Python provides a rich understanding of how you can apply machine learning techniques in your data science projects using Python. You'll explore Jupyter Notebooks, the technology used commonly in academic and commercial circles with in-line code running support. With the help of fun examples, you'll gain experience working on the Python machine learning toolkit—from performing basic data cleaning and processing to working with a range of regression and classification algorithms. Once you’ve grasped the basics, you'll learn how to build and train your own models using advanced techniques such as decision trees, ensemble modeling, validation, and error metrics. You'll also learn data visualization techniques using powerful Python libraries such as Matplotlib and Seaborn. This book also covers ensemble modeling and random forest classifiers along with other methods for combining results from multiple models, and concludes by delving into cross-validation to test your algorithm and check how well the model works on unseen data. By the end of this book, you'll be equipped to not only work with machine learning algorithms, but also be able to create some of your own!
Table of Contents (9 chapters)

Regression and Classification Problems


We discussed two distinct methods, supervised learning and unsupervised learning, in Chapter 1, Python Machine Learning Toolkit. Supervised learning problems aim to map input information to a known output value or label, but there are two further subcategories to consider. Both supervised and unsupervised learning problems can be further divided into regression or classification problems. Regression problems, which are the subject of this chapter, aim to predict or model continuous values, for example, predicting the temperature tomorrow in degrees Celsius or determining the location of a face within an image. In contrast, classification problems, rather than returning a continuous value, predict membership of one of a specified number of classes or categories. The example supervised learning problem in Chapter 1, Python Machine Learning Toolkit, where we wanted to determine or predict whether a wig was from the 1960s or 1980s, is a good example of...