Machine Learning

{what do we do to data?}

{nothing}

Above all else, show the data

{clean}

{model}

{predict}

Machine learning and statistics are a set of tools used to ask questions about data.  They leverage mathematical concepts and computational abilities to make inferences about relationships, or make predications about unobserved contexts.

In general, you are faced with a tradeoff between:

prediction accuracy

model interpretability

more statistics

more machine learning

(this slide would make some people very mad)

Statistics

machine learning

Machine learning

statistics

Some other thoughts

Machine learning is statistics on a mac

machine learning is statistics minus any checking of models and assumptions -Brian D. Ripley

All valid tools to choose from, but you must select the right tool for the task

Simple to use, difficult to use well

Today we'll be performing a common machine learning task: classification.  

We'll attempt to determine if an instance (observation) is a member of a particular class.

In other words, we'll be predicting a categorical variable.

outlook

temp.

humidity

windy

skip class

Let's say I want to predict if a student will come to class...

outlook

temp.

humidity

windy

skip class

Let's say I want to predict if a student will come to class...

outcome

outlook

temp.

humidity

windy

skip class

Let's say I want to predict if a student will come to class...

outcome

attributes or features

each row is an instance

outlook

temp.

humidity

windy

skip class

Write 3 rules to classify observations as skipping/attending class 

(if FEATURE(s) is VALUE, OUTCOME is VALUE)

outcome

attributes or features

this is a bit cumbersome....

this is awesome!

Node tests an attribute

Terminal node (leaf) assigns a classification

but how do we do it?

pick attributes that produce the most "pure" branches

repeat....

repeat....

Classification in R

# One of many libraries for classification / ML
library(rpart)

# Read in data
homes <- read.csv('part_1_data.csv')

# Use rpart to fit a model: predict `in_sf` using all variables
basic_fit <- rpart(in_sf ~ ., data = homes, method="class")
# How well did the model perform?
predicted <- predict(basic_fit, homes, type='class')
accuracy <- length(which(data[,'in_sf'] == predicted)) / length(predicted) * 100

Wrapping those tasks in functions

# Function to compare values
assess_fit <- function(model, data = homes, outcome = 'in_sf') {
  predicted <- predict(model, data, type='class')
  accuracy <- length(which(data[,outcome] == predicted)) / length(predicted) * 100
  return(paste0(accuracy, '% accurate!'))
}

# Use rpart to fit a model: predict `in_sf` using all other variables
basic_fit <- rpart(in_sf ~ ., data = homes, method="class")

# How well did we do?
assess_fit(basic_fit)

# Get a perfect fit: increase complexity, allow small splits
perfect_fit <- rpart(in_sf ~ ., data = homes, method="class",
                 control=rpart.control(cp = 0, minsplit=2))

assess_fit(perfect_fit)

What about testing/training data?

# Testing/training data: 
sample_size <- floor(.25 * nrow(homes))
train_indicies <- sample(seq_len(nrow(homes)), size = sample_size)
training_data <- data[train_indicies,]
test_data <- data[-train_indicies,]

# Train on training data, test on testing data: basic fit
basic_fit <- rpart(in_sf ~ ., data = training_data, method="class")
assess_fit(basic_fit, data=test_data)     

Seeing the tree!

# Visualize the tree using the base graphics package
png('visuals/tree_structure.png', width=900, height=900)
plot(basic_fit)
text(basic_fit, use.n = TRUE)
dev.off()

# Visualize basic fit
png('visuals/basic_fit.png', width=900, height=900)
fancyRpartPlot(basic_fit)
dev.off()

{could we build an interactive machine learning interface with Shiny....?}

Parameterizing the function

simple_tree <- function(predictors) {
  # Write out forumula
  predictors <- paste( predictors, collapse = "+")
  print(predictors)
  formula <- as.formula(paste0('in_sf ~ ', predictors))
  
  # Set test / training data
  sample_size <- floor(.25 * nrow(homes))
  train_indicies <- sample(seq_len(nrow(homes)), size = sample_size)
  training_data <- homes[train_indicies,]
  test_data <- homes[-train_indicies,]
  
  # Use rpart to fit a model: predict `in_sf` using other variables
  fit <- rpart(formula, data = training_data, method="class")
  
  # List of info to return
  info <- list()
  info$accuracy <- assess_fit(fit, data=test_data)
  p <- fancyRpartPlot(fit, sub='')
  info$tree <- p
  return(info)
}
shinyServer(function(input, output){
  # Use a reactive expression so that you only run the code once
  getResults <- reactive ({
    return(simple_tree(input$features))
  })
  output$plot <- renderPlot({
    results <- getResults()
    return(results$plot)
  })
  output$accuracy <- renderText({
    results <- getResults()
    return(results$accuracy)
  })
})

ui.R

# Create UI
library(shiny)
shinyUI(fluidPage(
  # UI for the traffic simulation
  titlePanel('Housing Tree'),
  
  # Controls
  sidebarLayout(
    sidebarPanel(  
      checkboxGroupInput("features", label = h3("Features to Use"), 
           choices = colnames(homes)[2:ncol(homes)],
           selected = colnames(homes)[2:ncol(homes)])
    ),
    # Render plot
    mainPanel(
      plotOutput("plot"), 
      textOutput('accuracy')
    )
  )
))

Assignments

Final project due next Friday!

Peer Evaluation due by Monday (3/14)

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