Types of analytics
Before we start tackling our next challenge, it will be useful to get an idea of the different types of analytics which broadly encompass the data science domain. We use a variety of data mining and machine learning techniques to solve different data problems. However, depending on the mechanism of the technique and its end result, we can broadly classify analytics into four different types which are explained next:
Descriptive analytics: This is what we use when we have some data to analyze. We start with looking at the different attributes of the data, extract meaningful features, and use statistics and visualizations to understand what has already happened. The main aim of descriptive analytics is to get a broad idea of what kind of data we are dealing with and summarize what has happened in the past. Above almost 80% of all analytics in businesses today are descriptive.
Diagnostic analytics: This is sometimes clubbed together with descriptive analytics. Here the main...
