The Naïve Bayes classifier
Naïve Bayes is a technique used to build classifiers using Bayes, theorem. Bayes, theorem describes the probability of an event occurring based on different conditions that are related to that event. We build a Naïve Bayes classifier by assigning class labels to problem instances. These problem instances are represented as vectors of feature values. The assumption here is that the value of any given feature is independent of the value of any other feature. This is called the independence assumption, which is the naïve part of a Naïve Bayes classifier.
Given the class variable, we can just see how a given feature affects it regardless of its effect on other features. For example, an animal may be considered a cheetah if it is spotted, has four legs, has a tail, and runs at about 70 MPH. A Naïve Bayes classifier considers that each of these features contributes independently to the outcome. The outcome refers to the probability...