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Explanation of Attribute Relevance in Decision-Tree Induction

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Book cover Research and Development in Intelligent Systems XVIII

Abstract

Strategist is an algorithm for strategic induction of decision trees in which attribute selection is based on the reasoning strategies used by doctors. The advantage is that in problem-solving applications of the induced decision tree, the relevance of an attribute or test can be explained in terms of the strategy it was selected to support, such as confirming a target outcome class or eliminating a competing outcome class. However, it is possible that an alternative approach to attribute selection may produce a decision tree with greater predictive accuracy from a given set of training data. The structure of the decision trees that an algorithm produces may also be an important factor in terms of problem-solving efficiency. We present a new algorithm for strategic induction of decision trees in which Strategist’s multiple-strategy approach to attribute selection is replaced by the single strategy of increasing the probability of a target outcome class. While sharing Strategist’s ability to explain the relevance of attributes in strategic terms, the new algorithm often produces more efficient decision trees than Strategist and matches the accuracy of ID3 on some data sets.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information and Software Engineering, University of Ulster, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, Northern Ireland

    David McSherry

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  1. David McSherry
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Technology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

    Max Bramer BSc, PhD, CEng

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Frans Coenen PhD

  3. Department of Computer Science, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

    Alun Preece BSc, PhD

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag London

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McSherry, D. (2002). Explanation of Attribute Relevance in Decision-Tree Induction. In: Bramer, M., Coenen, F., Preece, A. (eds) Research and Development in Intelligent Systems XVIII. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0119-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0119-2_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-85233-535-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-0119-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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