Book Image

Machine Learning with R - Third Edition

By : Brett Lantz
Book Image

Machine Learning with R - Third Edition

By: Brett Lantz

Overview of this book

Machine learning, at its core, is concerned with transforming data into actionable knowledge. R offers a powerful set of machine learning methods to quickly and easily gain insight from your data. Machine Learning with R, Third Edition provides a hands-on, readable guide to applying machine learning to real-world problems. Whether you are an experienced R user or new to the language, Brett Lantz teaches you everything you need to uncover key insights, make new predictions, and visualize your findings. This new 3rd edition updates the classic R data science book to R 3.6 with newer and better libraries, advice on ethical and bias issues in machine learning, and an introduction to deep learning. Find powerful new insights in your data; discover machine learning with R.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Machine Learning with R - Third Edition
Contributors
Preface
Other Books You May Enjoy
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Index

Understanding regression


Regression involves specifying the relationship between a single numeric dependent variable (the value to be predicted) and one or more numeric independent variables (the predictors). As the name implies, the dependent variable depends upon the value of the independent variable or variables. The simplest forms of regression assume that the relationship between the independent and dependent variables follows a straight line.

Note

The origin of the term "regression" to describe the process of fitting lines to data is rooted in a study of genetics by Sir Francis Galton in the late 19th century. He discovered that fathers who were extremely short or tall tended to have sons whose heights were closer to the average height. He called this phenomenon "regression to the mean."

You might recall from basic algebra that lines can be defined in a slope-intercept form similar to y = a + bx. In this form, the letter y indicates the dependent variable and x indicates the independent...