Machine Learning - Game Prediction Week 1

Welcome to part two of our Machine Learning in Soccer series! For this project I used something called linear regression. Which is not necessarily machine learning but is a super simple way to predict results using past data. Many of the “bibles” of machine learning refer to linear regression as one of the algorithms that we should all know, and that makes a lot of sense because it sets up the foundation for other regression methods. Because your computer is taking the data and then spitting out an answer we can call this a machine learning exercise, but I think it is better to think of linear regression as an introduction into applied statistics rather than machine learning. Machine learning is mostly just super advanced applications of statistical analysis using high level math and computer modeling techniques. Because computers can calculate things so incredibly fast, we use them to run algorithms and models at a rate far faster than a human being, and then the computer can replicate those calculations at scale as well (hundreds and thousands of times instead of just once). There are a ton of ways to get at the same answers, so this season we are going to dive into several of them.

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