Data Mining A Knowledge Discovery Approach [Paperback]

This comprehensive textbook on data mining details the unique steps of the knowledge discovery process that prescribes the sequence in which data mining projects should be performed, from problem and data understanding through data preprocessing to deployment of the results. This knowledge discovery approach is what distinguishes Data Mining from other texts in this area.

The book provides a suite of exercises and includes links to instructional presentations. Furthermore, it contains appendices of relevant mathematical material.

This comprehensive textbook on data mining details the unique steps of the knowledge discovery process - an industry standard that prescribes the sequence in which projects should be performed, from data understanding and preprocessing to deployment of the results.

If you torture the data long enough, Nature will confess, said 1991 Nobel-winning economist Ronald Coase. The statement is still true. However, achieving this lofty goal is not easy. First, long enough may, in practice, be too long in many applications and thus unacceptable. Second, to get confession from large data sets one needs to use state-of-the-art torturing tools. Third, Nature is very stubborn  not yielding easily or unwilling to reveal its secrets at all. Fortunately, while being aware of the above facts, the reader (a data miner) will find several efficient data mining tools described in this excellent book. The book discusses various issues connecting the whole spectrum of approaches, methods, techniques and algorithms falling under the umbrella of data mining. It starts with data understanding and preprocessing, then goes through a set of methods for supervised and unsupervised learning, and concludes with model assessment, data security and privacy issues. It is this specific approach of using the knowledge discovery process that makes this book a rare one lóW