Author: Igor Alcantara Every dataset has a bit of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in it. On the surface, it might look like one thing, but underneath it can take on multiple identities depending on how you examine it. In fact, sometimes it’s not just two identities; it’s ten. That’s where classification  comes in. Unlike regression, my previous article, which predicts how much or how many, classification sorts data into categories, revealing its hidden personas. Sometimes the split i

Q(p) = Regression - Headache Author: Igor Alcantara When someone says “regression,” your brain might first jump to childhood flashbacks of questionable fashion choices or to the time you fell back into eating instant noodles for dinner three nights in a row. Or maybe regression is the haircut I used in the 1990's when I was the singer and lead guitar player in a rock band (see below). But in the world of data science, regression is about moving forward using past data to pred

Author: Igor Alcantara I want you to picture the opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Thus Spoke Zarathustra . Stanley Kubrick gives us one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history. One of our ancestors, possibly a Homo Habilis, stands at the dawn of cognition. Surrounded by the bones of the past, they lift one from a carcass and, with the abstract thought that only advanced primates possess, imagine its potential. Our great-great-g(n)reat-grandparent sees beyond what’s in fr