Fitting a random forest model

We will use the combined dataset we now have to perform preliminary tests and fit the model. To run these tests and eventually the model, the sklearn module will need to be installed using pip via the command prompt (or within the Notebook):

1. In the next cell, install the sklearn module and import the following (note that the sklearn module may already be installed):

   pip install sklearn 
   from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
   from sklearn.ensemble import RandomForestRegressor
   from sklearn.metrics import r2_score
   

   Run the cell.

Before running any tests, note that the random forest model only accepts numeric variables, meaning all the categorical variables – specifically the 'Item' field – will need to be changed to numeric. Essentially, each value will be represented by a number. Some cleanup needs to be completed as well, removing null values and dropping columns that are redundant...