# What is Supervised Learning?

In a supervised learning problem, there is an explicit, pre-defined target variable which has known labels. If the outcome is continuous, the problem is solved via a regression context. If the outcome has discrete categories, a classification approach is taken.

More formally, Supervised Learning refers to the task of learning from ‘Training Data’. In this process, the algorithms learn a mapping from input data to output, by looking at several pairs of input – output ($$\mathbf{x}$$, $$y$$) data.

Examples:

Regression Analysis
– Predict the selling price of a house
– Learn from the housing data from the past to make prediction/estimates about the current selling price

Classification Analysis
– Predict is the stock market with go UP or Down tomorrow
– Learn from past stock market data to map if the present day data warrants an increase/decrease tomorrow.

#### What are some of the common algorithms used for classification?

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