Classification and regression are two fundamental types of problems in machine learning, differing in the type of values they predict.
Classification:
- The goal is to assign samples to one of several discrete categories.
- The result is a class label (category).
- Example applications: image recognition, medical diagnosis, email spam detection.
- Example algorithms: Decision Trees, SVM, Naive Bayes, KNN.
Regression:
- The goal is to predict a continuous numerical value.
- The result is a real number.
- Example applications: price forecasting, trend analysis, sales prediction.
- Example algorithms: Linear Regression, Polynomial Regression, Regression Trees.
Main differences:
- Type of result: Classification predicts categories, while regression predicts numerical values.
- Evaluation metrics: Classification uses metrics like accuracy, precision, recall, while regression uses RMSE, MAE, R².
- Applications: Classification is used for categorical decision-making tasks, while regression is used for quantitative prediction tasks.
Classification and regression are the foundation of many machine learning applications, enabling the solution of a wide range of problems.