Chapter 14. Data Exploration and Predictive Modeling with R

Using the R language inside SQL Server gives us the opportunity to get knowledge out of data. We introduced R and R support in SQL Server in the previous chapter, and this chapter demonstrates how you can use R for advanced data exploration, statistical analysis, and predictive modeling, way beyond the possibilities offered by using the T-SQL language only.

You will start with intermediate statistics: exploring associations between two discrete and two continuous variables, and one discrete and one continuous variable. You will also learn about linear regression, where you explain the values of a dependent continuous variable with a linear regression formula using one or more continuous input variables.

The second section of this chapter starts by introducing advanced multivariate data mining and machine learning methods. You will learn about methods that do not use a target variable, or so-called undirected methods.

In the third part...