A decision tree is a predictive model that, as its name implies, can be viewed as a tree.  The predictions are made on the basis of a series of decision much like the game of 20 questions. For instance, if a loan company wants to create a set of rules to identify potential defaulters, the resulting decision tree may look something like this.

 …

http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/articles/2011/02/27/geeks_helping_jocks_make_the_call/?page=full

Boston Globe

27 February 2011

Game changers



By Shira Springer



Last September, there was…

“No takers for ‘Takers’”

I had already received three posts slamming the new movie ‘Takers’ on Facebook. I had determinedly ignored them and planned to watch the movie this weekend. However, this last post was from someone who I considered a movie buff with taste similar to mine. The decision was made. Instead, I watched South Africa massacre India in the first test.  ‘Takers’ could not have been much worse.

Information now-a-days is being created at a…

• 7th Text Analytics Summit, May 18-19, Boston - Text analytics is an invaluable commercial tool being used by businesses worldwide. Forward thinking executives across a myriad of industries are using text analytics solutions to increase efficiency and unlock essential information that they never had access to before. Whether you are…

Zeliade White Paper March, 2010

Zeliade Systems

In July of 2009, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued a directive requiring that financial institutions quantify model risk. The Committee further stated that two types of risks should be taken into account: “The model risk associated with using a possibly incorrect valuation, and the risk associated with using unobservable calibration parameters”. The resulting adjustments must impact Tier I regulatory…

by

BEN S. BERNANKE Chairman Federal Reserve System

NB: Carol Bertaut, Section Chief, Laurie Pounder DeMarco, Economist, and Steven Kamin, Deputy Director, Division of International Finance, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, co-authored this paper with Chairman Bernanke.

A B S T R A C T

A broad array of domestic institutional factors – including problems with the originate-to-distribute model for mortgage…

• 1st Law of Data Mining, or "Business Goals Law": Business objectives are the origin of every data mining solution ...
• 2nd Law of Data Mining, or "Business Knowledge Law": Business Knowledge is central to every step of the data mining process ...
• 3rd Law of Data Mining or "Data Preparation Law": Data preparation is more than half of every data mining process ...
• 4th Law of Data Mining, "NFL-DM": The right model for a given application can only be discovered by…

Published February 16, 2011. 

I was on the drive to work this morning and thought “I want to make a bubble plot!”  Luckily, I was able to contain my enthusiasm and arrive at work without running any red lights. 

However, I did not know what information I wanted to show in my bubble plot.  I’ve seen Hans Rosling present quite a few bubble charts, so using some kind of country data or US State…

Digital marketers, the time has come to heed the call and end the rampant chaos and confusion by putting in place page tag moratoriums. Today.



WHY THE MORATORIUM?

Upon taking a closer look at the confusion and…

by Michael E. Tipping & Christopher M. Bishop

Microsoft Research

Abstract

Principal component analysis (PCA) is a ubiquitous technique for data analysis and processing, but one which is not based upon a probability model. In this paper we demonstrate how the principal axes of a set of observed data vectors may be determined through maximum-likelihood estimation of parameters in a latent variable model closely related to factor analysis. We…

Ron Fredericks writes: The Bay Area useR group event had a full house. The video presented here attempts to capture both the content and the excitement surrounding this event:…

Epimetheus and Janus share the same orbit of 151,472 kilometers from Saturn's center or 91,000 kilometers above the cloud tops. They are only separated by about 50 kilometers. As these two satellites approach each other they exchange a little momentum and trade orbits; the inner satellite becomes the outer and the outer moves to the inner position. This exchange happens about once every four years. Janus and Epimetheus may have formed from a disruption of a single parent to form co-orbital…

Health Care Analytics Forum

REDUCATION is an exciting new concept designed by Redwood, that brings together a panel of experts across all fields to deliver education that is bolder, brighter and more revolutionary than classroom teaching.



Envisaged as a one-of-its-kind organic university for all those who never tire of learning, REDUCATE allows experts to record or…

By Tom Davenport, Jeanne Harris

Analytics in business is about far more than just reporting. Thanks to bestsellers such as Moneyball and Super Crunchers, statistical analysis has broken through to public awareness. At the same time, the Internet and connected devices have brought a flood of valuable new data to analyze.

Those who view analytics as just reporting on past performance don't understand the full scope and…