In this tutorial we’ll try to understand one of the most important algorithms in machine learning: random forest algorithm. We’ll look at what makes random forest so special and implement it on a real-world data set using Python. You can find the code along with the data set here.
But first things first, let’s get some background.
What Is Random Forest Regression?Random forest regression is a supervised learning algorithm and bagging technique that uses an ensemble learning method for regression in machine learning. The trees in random forests run in parallel, meaning there is no interaction between these trees while building the trees.
What Is Random Forest Regression?Random forest regression is a supervised learning algorithm that uses an ensemble learning method for regression.
Random forest is a bagging technique and not a boosting technique. The trees in random forests run in parallel, meaning there is no interaction between these trees while building the trees.
Random forest sample How Does Random Forest Regression Work?Random forest operates by constructing a multitude of decision trees at training time and outputting the clas s that’s the mode of the classes (classification) or mean prediction (regression) of the individual trees.
A random forest is a meta-estimator (i.e. it combines the result of multiple predictions), which aggregates many decision trees with some helpful modifications:
The above modifications help prevent the trees from being too highly correlated.
Random Forest ExampleFor example, see the nine decision tree classifiers below:
Nine different decision tree classifiersWe can aggregate these decision tree classifiers into a random forest ensemble which combines their input. Think of the horizontal and vertical axes of the above decision tree outputs as features x1
and x2
. At certain values of each feature, the decision tree outputs a classification of blue, green, red, etc.
The above results are aggregated, through model votes or averaging, into a single ensemble model that ends up outperforming any individual decision tree’s output.
You can see the aggregated result for the nine decision tree classifiers below:
Random forest ensemble for the above decision tree classifiers Machine Learning Tutorial Python — Random Forest Random Forest Regression Definitions Ensemble LearningAn ensemble method is a technique that combines the predictions from multiple machine learning algorithms together to make more accurate predictions than any individual model. A model comprised of many models is called an ensemble model.
Ensemble Learning Method What Are The Different Kinds of Ensemble Learning?Boosting refers to a group of algorithms that utilize weighted averages to make weak learners into stronger learners. Boosting is all about teamwork. Each model that runs, dictates the features on which the next model will focus.
As the name suggests, boosting means one is learning from another, which in turn boosts the learning.
BootstrappingBootstrap refers to random sampling with replacement. Bootstrap allows us to better understand the bias and the variance within the data set. Bootstrapping involves a random sampling of a small subset of data from the data set.
Bagging is a general procedure that can be used to reduce the variance for those algorithms that have high variance, typically decision trees. Bagging makes each model run independently and then aggregates the outputs at the end without preference to any model.
Learn More With Built In’s Data Science ExpertsA Beginner’s Guide to Evaluating Classification Models in Python
Advantages of Random Forest RegressionDecision trees are sensitive to the specific data on which they are trained. If the training da ta is changed, the resulting decision tree can be quite different and, in turn, the predictions can be distinct.
Decision trees are also computationally expensive to train, carry a big risk of overfitting and tend to find local optima because they can’t go back after they have made a split.
To address these weaknesses, we turn to random forest, which illustrates the power of combining many decision trees into one model.
Disadvantages of Random Forest RegressionMore Tutorials on Built InA Primer on Model Fitting
How to Implement Random Forest Regression in Python(n_estimator=10)
. There you go. We’ve learned about the various kinds of ensemble learning algorithms and how these algorithms help make random forest work. Now we have an intuitive understanding of the features and advantages of using random forest over other machine learning algorithms.
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