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You're reading from  Machine Learning with R - Third Edition

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Published inApr 2019
Reading LevelIntermediate
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781788295864
Edition3rd Edition
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Brett Lantz
Brett Lantz
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Brett Lantz

Brett Lantz (DataSpelunking) has spent more than 10 years using innovative data methods to understand human behavior. A sociologist by training, Brett was first captivated by machine learning during research on a large database of teenagers' social network profiles. Brett is a DataCamp instructor and a frequent speaker at machine learning conferences and workshops around the world. He is known to geek out about data science applications for sports, autonomous vehicles, foreign language learning, and fashion, among many other subjects, and hopes to one day blog about these subjects at Data Spelunking, a website dedicated to sharing knowledge about the search for insight in data.
Read more about Brett Lantz

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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...

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Machine Learning with R - Third Edition
Published in: Apr 2019Publisher: PacktISBN-13: 9781788295864

Author (1)

author image
Brett Lantz

Brett Lantz (DataSpelunking) has spent more than 10 years using innovative data methods to understand human behavior. A sociologist by training, Brett was first captivated by machine learning during research on a large database of teenagers' social network profiles. Brett is a DataCamp instructor and a frequent speaker at machine learning conferences and workshops around the world. He is known to geek out about data science applications for sports, autonomous vehicles, foreign language learning, and fashion, among many other subjects, and hopes to one day blog about these subjects at Data Spelunking, a website dedicated to sharing knowledge about the search for insight in data.
Read more about Brett Lantz