SQL Server World

Hi Fellow Readers,

I recently joined a study group called “Statistical Learning with Application in R” on the meetup.com and attended its first session yesterday in BrainTree’s office at 222 Merchandise Mart, Chicago.

This group is about those people who have some familiarity about R programming but lack the statistical depth or for those who know the statistics but are new to the R programming. Basically anyone having a motivation to learn something new and inclination to share their knowledge can join it. In future, meetup organizer may add Google hangout feature to the meetup so that remote people can also join in.

Statistical learning recently became hot topic with explosion of Big Data and Machine Learning. Moreover, the new job market for Data Scientist has given it much hype. But what is statistical learning? Basically it is the study of tools to help predict and infer from data. For example Linear Regression is used for predicting quantitative values such as salesman’s sales figure or individual’s salary. With the advent of computer technology in 1980s, it became feasible to calculate non-linear methods such as Classifications and Regression Trees. The subject of Machine Learning is essentially the study of statistics of non-linear methods.

Our group will be following the book “Introduction to Statistical Learning, 4^th Edition” or ISL and the corresponding videos. This book is especially good for beginners.

From the book ISL itself, the basic premises of the book are:

1. Many statistical learning methods are relevant and useful in a wide range of academic and non-academic disciplines, beyond just the statistical sciences.

2. Statistical learning should not be viewed as a series of black boxes.

3. While it is important to know what job is performed by each cog, it is not necessary to have the skills to construct the machine inside the box!

4. We presume that the reader is interested in applying statistical learning methods to real-world problems.

This is enough for the first post on this topic. I am planning to write more as my jouRney progresses.