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Day 5

Day 5 focuses on Linear Regression, a key algorithm in supervised learning used to predict continuous outcomes, specifically housing prices using the California Housing Dataset. The document outlines the steps involved in the regression process, including understanding the dataset, exploring data relationships, splitting data for training and testing, training the model, and evaluating its performance using metrics like Mean Squared Error and R-squared. It emphasizes that mastering these steps is essential for progressing to more advanced machine learning techniques.

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Lapi Lapil
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16 views2 pages

Day 5

Day 5 focuses on Linear Regression, a key algorithm in supervised learning used to predict continuous outcomes, specifically housing prices using the California Housing Dataset. The document outlines the steps involved in the regression process, including understanding the dataset, exploring data relationships, splitting data for training and testing, training the model, and evaluating its performance using metrics like Mean Squared Error and R-squared. It emphasizes that mastering these steps is essential for progressing to more advanced machine learning techniques.

Uploaded by

Lapi Lapil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Day 5: Hands-On with Regression

Welcome to Day 5 of our series! Today, we’ll explore Linear Regression, a foundational
algorithm in supervised learning. This method is widely used for predicting continuous
outcomes, and by the end of this blog, you will know how to apply it to predict housing
prices using a real-world dataset!

What is Regression?
In supervised learning, regression is a method used to predict continuous outcomes based on
input features. Unlike classification, where the goal is to categorize inputs into discrete labels,
regression predicts values, such as prices, temperatures, or sales. The most common type of
regression is Linear Regression, which assumes a linear relationship between input variables
(also called features or independent variables) and the target variable (or dependent
variable).
Key types of regression include:
 Linear Regression: Fits a straight line that best represents the data.
 Polynomial Regression: Fits a nonlinear curve to the data.
 Ridge/Lasso Regression: Adds penalties to prevent overfitting in models with many
features.
Today, we’ll focus on Linear Regression using the California Housing Dataset.

Hands-On: Linear Regression with California Housing Dataset


Step 1: Understanding the Dataset
For this practical task, we'll use the California Housing Dataset. This dataset includes
several features like the median income in an area, the average age of houses, and the
average number of rooms per household, among others. The goal is to predict the median
house price based on these factors.
The first step in any data project is to load and inspect the dataset. This helps us understand
the structure of the data and what each feature represents.
Step 2: Exploring the Data
Once we have the dataset, the next step is to explore it. Data exploration involves analyzing
the relationships between the features and the target variable (in this case, house prices). For
example, we might find that median income has a strong correlation with house prices,
making it a key predictor for our model.
Visualization is a powerful tool for data exploration. Creating plots can help us better
understand how different features relate to house prices. At this stage, you might notice that
certain features, such as the average number of rooms or population density, could have
meaningful relationships with house prices.

LinkedIn - Anubhav
Step 3: Splitting the Data
To evaluate the performance of our model, we need to split the data into training and testing
sets. The training set will be used to build the model, while the testing set will allow us to
check how well the model performs on unseen data.
A typical approach is to use around 80% of the data for training and 20% for testing. This
ensures that we have enough data to train the model while still keeping a portion to validate
its performance.
Step 4: Training the Linear Regression Model
Now that we have the data ready, it's time to build the model. Linear Regression aims to
find a straight line (a linear relationship) that best fits the data. This line is used to predict
house prices based on the input features we’ve selected.
The model will try to minimize the difference between the actual prices and the predicted
prices by finding the best possible coefficients for the input features (e.g., median income and
average rooms).
Step 5: Evaluating the Model
Once the model is trained, we can use the testing set to evaluate its performance. Two
important metrics for regression models are:
 Mean Squared Error (MSE): This measures the average squared difference between
the actual and predicted values. A lower MSE indicates better model performance.
 R-squared (R²): This tells us how well the input features explain the variation in the
target variable. An R² value close to 1 means the model explains most of the variation
in house prices.
After evaluating the model, you’ll have an idea of how well it can predict house prices based
on the features in the dataset.

Takeaways
 Linear Regression is a great starting point in supervised learning, helping us
understand how different features relate to a continuous target variable.
 In real-world projects, the process of loading data, exploring it, splitting it into
training and testing sets, building the model, and evaluating performance is a common
workflow.
 Understanding these steps will serve as a foundation for more advanced machine
learning models that we’ll cover in future days!
In the next few days, we will dive deeper into other techniques and introduce more complex
models. I’ll see you in the next blog. Until then, keep learning and stay healthy!

LinkedIn - Anubhav

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