Classification
In
Machine Learning
What Is
Classification
Classification is a supervised machine learning
task used to predict a categorical output
variable (class/label) based on one or more
input features.
It answers:
“Which category does this input belong to?”
Examples:
Email→ Spam or Not Spam
→
Transaction Fraudulent or Not
Image→ Cat, Dog, or Bird
Real-life
Examples
Medical Diagnosis: Predicting if a tumor is
benign or malignant
Finance: Detecting fraudulent credit card
transactions
Marketing: Predicting if a user will click an ad
Agriculture: Classifying plants based on leaf
shape or diseases
Most Common
Classification
Algorithms
Logistic Regression (for binary classification)
K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN)
Decision Trees
Random Forest
Naive Bayes
Support Vector Machines (SVM)
Neural Networks
Logistic
Regression
Logistic Regression is a linear model for binary classification.
It estimates the probability that a given input belongs to a
specific class using a sigmoid (logistic) function.
Mathematical Equation:
Strengths:
Interpretable and fast to train
Works well for linearly separable data
Outputs probabilities, useful in decision-making
K-Nearest
Neighbors (KNN)
KNN is a non-parametric, lazy learning algorithm. It classifies
new data points based on the majority class among the K
closest training examples.
Mathematical Equation:
Strengths:
Simple to implement
No training time
Works well with non-linear decision boundaries
Decision Trees
A Decision Tree is a flowchart-like structure that splits data
into branches based on feature thresholds. Each path from
root to leaf represents a classification rule.
Mathematical Equation:
Strengths:
Easy to interpret
Handles both numerical and categorical data
Captures non-linear patterns
Random Forest
Random Forest is an ensemble of decision trees. Each tree is
trained on a random subset of the data and features. The
final prediction is made by majority vote (classification).
Strengths:
Reduces overfitting
High accuracy
Robust to noise and outliers
Used in:
Fraud detection
Risk analysis
Bioinformatics
Support Vector
Machine (SVM)
SVM finds the optimal hyperplane that separates data into
classes with the maximum margin. It can be extended to non-
linear problems using kernel functions.
Mathematical Equation:
Strengths:
Works well in high-dimensional space
Effective when there’s a clear margin of separation
Can handle non-linear data via RBF/polynomial kernels
Naive Bayes
A probabilistic classifier based on Bayes' Theorem, assuming
feature independence. It's "naive" because it ignores feature
correlation.
Mathematical Equation:
Strengths:
Fast and efficient
Works well with high-dimensional data
Performs well with text data
Neural Networks
(for Classification)
Inspired by the brain, neural networks consist of layers of
artificial neurons. For classification, they output a probability
distribution using Softmax (for multi-class) or Sigmoid (for
binary).
Mathematical Equation:
Strengths:
Powerful for complex non-linear problems
Scalable to large datasets
Can learn from raw data (e.g. pixels, text)
Loss Functions
for Classification
Evaluation
Metrics
Accuracy: Correct predictions / Total
Precision: True Positives / (TP + FP)
Recall: True Positives / (TP + FN)
F1-score: Harmonic mean of Precision and
Recall
Confusion Matrix: Table showing TP, FP, FN, TN
Common Pitfalls
Imbalanced Classes (e.g., fraud detection)
Solution: SMOTE, class weighting
Overfitting
Solution: regularization, pruning
Bias in Data
Must ensure fair, diverse data sources
Bias-Variance Tradeoff
Underfitting → High bias, low variance
Overfitting → Low bias, high variance
Balance = Better generalization
Learning Never Stops
Linear Regression is just the beginning!
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