Decision Trees For Classification (ID3)| Machine Learning
Overview of Decision Trees and How to build One
A Decision tree is a machine learning algorithm that can be used for both classification and regression ( In that case , It would be called Regression Trees ). This blog is concentrated on Decision trees for classification.
What is a Decision Tree ?
A Decision tree is similar to a computer science tree, with a hierarchical structure . It has nodes and these nodes are connected by edges. A decision tree classifies data by asking questions at each node. ( In a typical situation, If the answer is yes, go to the right child. If not , go to the left child ).
fig 1.1 represents a simple decision tree that is used to for a classification task of whether a customer gets a loan or not. The input features are salary of the person, the number of children and the age of the person. The decision tree uses these attributes or features and asks the right questions at the right step or node so as to classify whether the loan can be provided to the person or not.
