CS63871H623 Artificial Intelligence

Module 3 Assignment
Lakshmi Priya Vellineni
Topic: Decision Trees: An Essential Tool in Artificial Intelligence
ABSTRACT
A basic machine learning approach for both classification and regression applications is the
decision tree. They are a well-liked option in artificial intelligence (AI) applications due to
their interpretability and simplicity. This essay examines decision trees' composition and
operation, their uses in artificial intelligence, and their importance in resolving practical
issues. Their usefulness is demonstrated by examples and case studies, which emphasize how
decision trees enhance AI's capacity for data analysis and decision-making.

INTRODUCTION
Among the first and easiest to understand types of machine learning algorithms are decision
trees. Through the learning of decision rules generated from data attributes, these tree-
structured models are used to predict outcomes. They are accessible for comprehending
intricate data links because of their hierarchical structure, which facilitates simple
interpretation and visualization. Decision trees are essential to artificial intelligence in a
number of areas, such as financial forecasting and medical diagnosis.

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONING OF DECISION TREES

An arrangement that resembles a flowchart is called a decision tree, in which each internal
node represents a characteristic (or attribute), each branch denotes a decision rule, and each
leaf node represents the outcome. According to Han, Kamber, and Pei (2011), the tree
separates the data into subgroups based on the input feature values to lessen ambiguity about
the outcome.

Splitting factors: Decision trees employ multiple factors to determine the appropriate
division of the data:

Gini Index: Mostly employed in classification tasks, this metric gauges a dataset's impurity.
Information Gain: Measuring the decrease in output uncertainty following a split, it is based
on the idea of entropy.
Chi-Square: Assesses a split's statistical significance.
Reduction in volatility: This technique reduces volatility among subsets in regression
problems (Quinlan, 1986)
Building and Pruning:

Making a decision tree involves the following steps:

Selecting the Best Attribute: Using the previously specified standards, ascertain which
attribute most effectively partitions the data.
Partitioning the Collection: segmenting the dataset based on the selected attribute.
Releasing the Procedure: Until a stopping condition (such as the maximum depth or the
minimum number of samples per node) is met, the subsets are separated recursively.
Pruning prevents overfitting and keeps the model from being too complicated by removing
branches of the tree that have minimal predictive value (Breiman et al., 1984).

APPLICATIONS OF DECISION TREES IN AI

Because of their versatility, decision trees can be used to solve a variety of artificial
intelligence challenges.

Diagnoses in Medicine
Because decision trees are so easily interpreted, they are widely employed in medical
diagnoses. For example, based on a patient's medical history and symptoms, they can assist in
determining whether the patient has a specific condition. Decision trees provide explicit
principles that help clinicians comprehend the logic behind a diagnosis, which promotes
confidence and dependability in AI systems (Podgorelec et al., 2002).

Budgetary Prediction
Decision trees are used in finance for risk assessment, credit rating, and investment selection.
Decision trees can categorize possible risks and forecast future trends by examining past
financial data. Making wise decisions in the fast-paced world of finance requires this
competence (Frydman, Altman, & Kao, 1985).

Relationship Management with Customers

Decision trees are used by businesses to better manage client relationships, predict consumer
behavior, and segment their customer base (CRM). Businesses can improve customer
happiness and marketing strategies, which in turn leads to more revenue and customer
loyalty, by identifying trends in consumer data (Berry & Linoff, 1997).

EXAMPLE AND CASE STUDIES

Example: Forecasting Employee Salary

Predicting employee pay based on experience and education level is a real-world use of
decision trees. By analyzing past data, a decision tree model may determine how these
variables affect pay, offering valuable insights into pay structures and supporting equitable
compensation methods.

Dataset:

YearsExperience: Numerical

EducationLevel: Categorical (High School, Associate, Bachelor's, Master's, PhD)

Salary: Numerical (Target variable)

Organizations can forecast future salaries for various employee profiles using this data to
train a decision tree regressor, which aids in budget planning and salary negotiations.

Case Study: Heart Disease Prognosis

One noteworthy case study involves the prediction of cardiac disease using decision trees. A
decision tree model that might forecast the risk of heart disease was trained by researchers
using patient data, such as age, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and other factors.
According to Tsien et al. (1998), the model offered easily understood guidelines, such as "if
cholesterol > 240 and age > 50, then high risk of heart disease," which aided medical
professionals in making early diagnoses and treatment decisions.

IMPORTANCE IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Decision trees offer a reliable, comprehensible, and effective approach to decision-making,
which makes them an important contribution to the field of artificial intelligence. They are an
essential tool in artificial intelligence due to their simplicity installation and capacity to
handle both numerical and categorical input.

Interpretability
Decision trees' interpretability is one of their main advantages. Decision trees, in contrast to
many complicated models, generate simple and easy-to-understand rules, which is important
in industries like banking and healthcare where decision-making requires rationale and
openness.

Effectiveness
Because of their computational efficiency, decision trees can be used in real-time
applications. Because of their recursive structure, they can be quickly trained and predicted,
which is advantageous in situations when making decisions quickly is essential.

CONCLUSION:

Artificial intelligence relies heavily on decision trees because they combine efficacy,
interpretability, and simplicity. Their versatility and significance in AI are demonstrated by
their vast range of applications, which vary from financial forecasts to medical diagnostics.
Decision trees aid in bridging the gap between sophisticated data analysis and useful
decision-making by offering precise decision rules and effectively managing a variety of data
kinds. Decision trees will continue to be a fundamental tool for artificial intelligence (AI),
advancing the field and allowing intelligent systems to make transparent, well-informed
decisions.
REFERENCES:
M. J. A. Berry and G. Linoff (1997). Data mining methods: For sales, marketing, and
customer service. Sons of John Wiley, Inc.

Breiman, L., Olshen, R. A., Friedman, J., and Stone, C. J. (1984). Regression trees and
classification. CRC Publishing.

In 1985, Frydman, H., Altman, E. I., and Kao, D. L. The case of financial distress: An
introduction to recursive partitioning for financial classification. 40(1) Journal of Finance,
269-291.

Pei, J., Han, J., and Kamber, M. (2011). Concepts & Techniques of Data Mining. Elsevier.

Kokol, P., Stiglic, B., Podgorelec, V., & Rozman, I. (2002). An overview of decision trees
and their applications in healthcare. Medical Systems Journal, 26(5), 445–463.

Induction of decision trees was described by Quinlan, J. R. (1986) in Machine Learning, 1(1),
81-106.