Decision Tree Induction Systems: A Bayesian Analysis [article]

Wray L. Buntine
2013 arXiv   pre-print
Decision tree induction systems are being used for knowledge acquisition in noisy domains. This paper develops a subjective Bayesian interpretation of the task tackled by these systems and the heuristic methods they use. It is argued that decision tree systems implicitly incorporate a prior belief that the simpler (in terms of decision tree complexity) of two hypotheses be preferred, all else being equal, and that they perform a greedy search of the space of decision rules to find one in which
more » ... here is strong posterior belief. A number of improvements to these systems are then suggested.
arXiv:1304.2732v1 fatcat:h77ayiwngbc4xoij45nw7vzsdm