Linear Regression: Absolute Fundamentals

Greetings, everyone! We're excited to announce that our "Machine Learning Absolute Fundamentals for Linear Regression" course is now open to all students. This course is specifically designed for novice Python developers who are eager to embark on their journey into the world of machine learning. In this instructional module, we will dive into the practical application of a linear regression model, harnessing the power of the Python scikit-learn library, to predict the total number of COVID-19 positive cases within a specific Indian state.

By the end of this course, you will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Gain a fundamental understanding of what machine learning is, demystifying its core concepts and principles.

2. Define what a dataset entails and comprehend its significance in the context of machine learning.

3. Explore the pivotal functions and roles of machine learning in various domains and applications.

4. Attain a comprehensive grasp of the concept of linear regression, a foundational machine learning technique for predictive modeling.

5. Elaborate on the cost function and delve into the concept of the line of greatest fit, often measured by the Mean Squared Error (MSE).

6. Learn how to effectively manipulate and preprocess your dataset using the versatile pandas library functions, ensuring that it's ready for machine learning.

7. Master the art of partitioning your data into training and testing subsets, a critical step in model evaluation.

8. Harness the power of Scikit-Learn to create a robust linear regression model and efficiently train it on your dataset.

9. Evaluate the performance of your model and make data-driven predictions, enabling you to foresee future COVID-19 positive cases with confidence.

10. Develop your data visualization skills using Matplotlib, allowing you to communicate your findings effectively through compelling graphical representations.

Diving deeper into the realm of linear regression, we find that this technique leverages linear predictor functions to model relationships within data. The essence of linear regression lies in the estimation of unknown parameters from the available dataset. These models, aptly named linear models, offer valuable insights into the conditional mean of the response variable. Typically, this conditional mean is viewed as an affine function of the explanatory variables, commonly referred to as predictors. Occasionally, in specific applications, other quantiles such as the conditional median are employed.