We will begin this chapter with a brief introduction to the concept of machine learning by presenting an overview of the most frequently used predictive algorithms, their classification, and typical characteristics. We will also list a number of resources where you can find more information about the specifics of chosen algorithms and we will guide you through the growing number of Big Data machine learning tools available to data scientists.
Machine learning methods encapsulate data mining and statistical techniques allowing researchers to make sense of data, model the relationships between variables or features, and extend these models to predict the values or classes of events in the future. So how does this field differ from the already well-known statistical testing? In general, we can say that machine learning methods are less stringent about the required format and characteristics of the data; that is, many machine learning algorithms...