The Third of the Big 3: Neural Networks

Abstract

One of the most powerful predictive analytics techniques are neural networks. The concept of the neural network is over 50 years old, but it is recent advances in computing speed, memory, and data storage that have enabled their more current widespread use. In this chapter a variety of different neural network architectures will be described. Next an analysis of how to optimize and evaluate neural networks will be presented, followed by using a decision tree to show how to describe a neural network. Finally, multiple neural networks will be applied to the automobile insurance data set to determine which neural network provides the best-fit model.