Machine Learning with R provides a thorough introduction to machine learning techniques using the R programming language, focusing on practical applications. You'll gain the skills necessary for preparing data, evaluating models, and applying advanced methods such as ensemble learning and deep learning. This course bridges the gap between theory and real-world applications, ensuring you not only understand the concepts but also know how to implement them in real scenarios. By working with tools like Spark and Hadoop, you will gain experience with big data and develop a comprehensive understanding of the machine learning process.

Machine Learning with R

Recommended experience
Recommended experience
Intermediate level
Ideal for data scientists, analysts, and students new to machine learning. Basic knowledge of statistics and programming recommended.
Recommended experience
Recommended experience
Intermediate level
Ideal for data scientists, analysts, and students new to machine learning. Basic knowledge of statistics and programming recommended.
What you'll learn
Implement machine learning models from data preparation to deployment
Apply classification and regression techniques to solve real-world problems
Evaluate and improve model performance using advanced methods
Details to know

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March 2026
15 assignments
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There are 15 modules in this course
In this section, we introduce the foundations of machine learning, exploring its origins, core concepts, typical applications, ethical considerations, and practical steps for matching data types to ML algorithms using R.
What's included
2 videos11 readings1 assignment
2 videos• Total 2 minutes
- Introduction - Overview Video• 1 minute
- Introducing Machine Learning - Overview Video• 1 minute
11 readings• Total 110 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- Uses and Abuses of Machine Learning• 10 minutes
- The Limits of Machine Learning• 10 minutes
- Note• 10 minutes
- How Machines Learn• 10 minutes
- Abstraction• 10 minutes
- Generalization• 10 minutes
- Evaluation• 10 minutes
- Types of Machine Learning Algorithms• 10 minutes
- Matching Input Data to Algorithms• 10 minutes
- Why R and Why R Now• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Foundations of Machine Learning• 10 minutes
In this section, we manage data using R structures, analyze datasets statistically, and visualize numeric and categorical features for comprehensive data exploration and preparation.
What's included
1 video13 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Managing and Understanding Data - Overview Video• 1 minute
13 readings• Total 130 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- Factors• 10 minutes
- Lists• 10 minutes
- Data Frames• 10 minutes
- Matrices and Arrays• 10 minutes
- Importing and Saving Datasets from CSV Files• 10 minutes
- Exploring and Understanding Data• 10 minutes
- Measuring the Central Tendency Mean and Median• 10 minutes
- Measuring Spread Quartiles and the Five-Number Summary• 10 minutes
- Understanding Numeric Data Uniform and Normal Distributions• 10 minutes
- Exploring Categorical Features• 10 minutes
- Visualizing Relationships Scatterplots• 10 minutes
- Examining Relationships Two-Way Cross-Tabulations• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Data Analysis Fundamentals• 10 minutes
In this section, we explore lazy learning classification using the k-NN algorithm, measure data similarity with distance metrics, and prepare datasets by normalizing and splitting data for accurate nearest neighbor classification.
What's included
1 video7 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Lazy Learning Classification Using Nearest Neighbors - Overview Video• 1 minute
7 readings• Total 70 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- Measuring Similarity with Distance• 10 minutes
- Preparing Data for Use with k-NN• 10 minutes
- Why Is the k-NN Algorithm Lazy?• 10 minutes
- Exploring and Preparing the Data• 10 minutes
- Data Preparation Creating Training and Test Datasets• 10 minutes
- Evaluating Model Performance• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Exploring Lazy Learning and Its Core Principles• 10 minutes
In this section, we explore probabilistic text classification using the Naive Bayes algorithm, covering the fundamentals of probability, conditional probability with Bayes' theorem, and practical SMS spam detection in R.
What's included
1 video11 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Probabilistic Learning Classification Using Naive Bayes - Overview Video• 1 minute
11 readings• Total 110 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- Understanding Joint Probability• 10 minutes
- Computing Conditional Probability with Bayes' Theorem• 10 minutes
- Strengths Weaknesses• 10 minutes
- The Laplace Estimator• 10 minutes
- Example Filtering Mobile Phone Spam With the Naive Bayes Algorithm• 10 minutes
- Exploring and Preparing the Data• 10 minutes
- Data Preparation: Splitting Text Documents Into Words• 10 minutes
- Visualizing Text Data Word Clouds• 10 minutes
- Data Preparation Creating Indicator Features for Frequent Words• 10 minutes
- Evaluating Model Performance• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Probabilistic Learning Fundamentals• 10 minutes
In this section, we learn how decision trees and rule learners such as C5.0, 1R, and RIPPER divide data for classification, interpret their outputs, and evaluate performance in practical scenarios like loan risk assessment and detecting toxicity.
What's included
1 video10 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Divide and Conquer Classification Using Decision Trees and Rules - Overview Video• 1 minute
10 readings• Total 100 minutes
- The C5.0 Decision Tree Algorithm• 10 minutes
- Pruning the Decision Tree• 10 minutes
- Data Preparation Creating Random Training and Test Datasets• 10 minutes
- Training a Model on the Data• 10 minutes
- Evaluating Model Performance• 10 minutes
- Making Some Mistakes Cost More Than Others• 10 minutes
- Separate and Conquer• 10 minutes
- The 1R Algorithm• 10 minutes
- Rules from Decision Trees• 10 minutes
- Collecting Data• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Machine Learning Fundamentals and Decision Tree Principles• 10 minutes
In this section, we learn to implement regression models-including linear regression and tree-based methods-to estimate numeric outcomes, analyze feature correlations, and apply practical techniques for effective data-driven forecasting.
What's included
1 video19 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Forecasting Numeric Data Regression Methods - Overview Video• 1 minute
19 readings• Total 181 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- Simple Linear Regression• 10 minutes
- Ordinary Least Squares Estimation• 10 minutes
- Correlations• 1 minute
- Generalized Linear Models and Logistic Regression• 10 minutes
- Table• 10 minutes
- Example Predicting Auto Insurance Claims Costs Using Linear Regression• 10 minutes
- Exploring and Preparing the Data• 10 minutes
- Visualizing Relationships Between Features with the Scatterplot Matrix• 10 minutes
- Training a Model on the Data• 10 minutes
- Evaluating Model Performance• 10 minutes
- Model Specification Adding Interaction Effects• 10 minutes
- Making Predictions with a Regression Model• 10 minutes
- Going Further Predicting Insurance Policyholder Churn With Logistic Regression• 10 minutes
- Understanding Regression Trees and Model Trees• 10 minutes
- Estimating the Quality of Wines With Regression Trees and Model Trees• 10 minutes
- Exploring and Preparing the Data• 10 minutes
- Visualizing Decision Trees• 10 minutes
- Improving Model Performance• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Forecasting and Model Evaluation Fundamentals• 10 minutes
In this section, we examine how neural networks and support vector machines (SVMs) model complex data relationships, emphasizing model training, evaluation, and hyperparameter tuning for practical machine learning applications.
What's included
1 video14 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Black-Box Methods: Neural Networks and Support Vector Machines - Overview Video• 1 minute
14 readings• Total 140 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- From Biological to Artificial Neurons• 10 minutes
- Network Topology• 10 minutes
- The Direction of Information Travel• 10 minutes
- The Number of Nodes in Each Layer• 10 minutes
- Forward and Backward Phases• 10 minutes
- Training a Model on the Data• 10 minutes
- Improving Model Performance• 10 minutes
- Understanding Support Vector Machines• 10 minutes
- The Case of Linearly Separable Data• 10 minutes
- Using Kernels for Nonlinear Spaces• 10 minutes
- Example Performing OCR with SVMs• 10 minutes
- Training a Model on the Data• 10 minutes
- Improving Model Performance• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Exploring Machine Learning Techniques and Challenges• 10 minutes
In this section, we apply association rule mining to transactional data, utilize metrics like support and confidence, and implement Apriori and Eclat algorithms to uncover and analyze purchasing patterns for data-driven marketing and inventory strategies.
What's included
1 video9 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Finding Patterns: Market Basket Analysis Using Association Rules - Overview Video• 1 minute
9 readings• Total 90 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- The Apriori Algorithm for Association Rule Learning• 10 minutes
- Measuring Rule Interest Support and Confidence• 10 minutes
- Example: Identifying Frequently Purchased Groceries With Association Rules• 10 minutes
- Visualizing Item Support Item Frequency Plots• 10 minutes
- Training a Model on the Data• 10 minutes
- Evaluating Model Performance• 10 minutes
- Improving Model Performance• 10 minutes
- Saving Association Rules to a File or DataFrame• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Exploring Patterns in Data• 10 minutes
In this section, we introduce k-means clustering to group unlabeled data, covering concepts of clustering, data preparation, model evaluation, and refinement to uncover actionable patterns in datasets.
What's included
1 video9 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Finding Groups of Data Clustering with k-means - Overview Video• 1 minute
9 readings• Total 90 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- Clusters of Clustering Algorithms• 10 minutes
- The K-Means Clustering Algorithm• 10 minutes
- Choosing the Appropriate Number of Clusters• 10 minutes
- Collecting Data• 10 minutes
- Data Preparation Dummy Coding Missing Values• 10 minutes
- Training a Model on the Data• 10 minutes
- Evaluating Model Performance• 10 minutes
- Improving Model Performance• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Exploring Data Grouping and Standardization• 10 minutes
In this section, we evaluate machine learning models using classification metrics, analyze confusion matrices, and apply validation methods to estimate how the models may perform on future data.
What's included
1 video11 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Evaluating Model Performance - Overview Video• 1 minute
11 readings• Total 110 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- A Closer Look at Confusion Matrices• 10 minutes
- Beyond Accuracy Other Measures of Performance• 10 minutes
- The Matthews Correlation Coefficient• 10 minutes
- Sensitivity and Specificity• 10 minutes
- The F-Measure• 10 minutes
- Comparing ROC Curves• 10 minutes
- The Area Under the ROC Curve• 10 minutes
- Estimating Future Performance• 10 minutes
- Cross-Validation• 10 minutes
- Bootstrap Sampling• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Evaluating Model Performance Fundamentals• 10 minutes
In this section, we examine the critical factors for successful machine learning, focusing on effective data exploration, project design strategies, and understanding real-world impacts to bridge theory and practical application.
What's included
1 video11 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Being Successful with Machine Learning - Overview Video• 1 minute
11 readings• Total 110 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- What Makes a Successful Machine Learning Model• 10 minutes
- Avoiding Obvious Predictions• 10 minutes
- Conducting Fair Evaluations• 10 minutes
- Considering Real-World Impacts• 10 minutes
- Building Trust in the Model• 10 minutes
- Putting the Science in Data Science• 10 minutes
- Using R Notebooks and R Markdown• 10 minutes
- Performing Advanced Data Exploration• 10 minutes
- Encountering Outliers A Real-World Pitfall• 10 minutes
- Example Using ggplot2 for Visual Data Exploration• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Mastering Machine Learning Fundamentals• 10 minutes
In this section, we tackle complex data preparation tasks in R, focusing on combining data sources and feature engineering techniques to support machine learning objectives.
What's included
1 video12 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Advanced Data Preparation - Overview Video• 1 minute
12 readings• Total 120 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- The Impact of Big Data and Deep Learning• 10 minutes
- Feature Engineering in Practice• 10 minutes
- Hint 2 Find Insights Hidden in Text• 10 minutes
- Transform Numeric Ranges• 10 minutes
- Utilize Related Rows• 10 minutes
- Append External Data• 10 minutes
- Exploring R's Tidyverse• 10 minutes
- Reading Rectangular Files Faster with readr and readxl• 10 minutes
- Preparing and Piping Data with dplyr• 10 minutes
- Transforming Text with stringr• 10 minutes
- Cleaning Dates with lubridate• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Mastering Data Preparation in Machine Learning• 10 minutes
In this section, we address challenges in machine learning data by applying feature selection and extraction, handling missing or sparse values with imputation, and using techniques to rebalance imbalanced datasets for improved model performance.
What's included
1 video17 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Challenging Data: Too Much, Too Little, Too Complex - Overview Video• 1 minute
17 readings• Total 170 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- Feature Selection• 10 minutes
- Wrapper Methods and Embedded Methods• 10 minutes
- Example Using Stepwise Regression for Feature Selection• 10 minutes
- Example Using Boruta for Feature Selection• 10 minutes
- Understanding Principal Component Analysis• 10 minutes
- Example Using PCA to Reduce Highly Dimensional Social Media Data• 10 minutes
- Making Use of Sparse Data• 10 minutes
- Example Remapping Sparse Categorical Data• 10 minutes
- Example Binning Sparse Numeric Data• 10 minutes
- Handling Missing Data• 10 minutes
- Performing Missing Value Imputation• 10 minutes
- Missing Value Patterns• 10 minutes
- The Problem of Imbalanced Data• 10 minutes
- Generating a Synthetic Balanced Dataset with SMOTE• 10 minutes
- Example Applying the SMOTE Algorithm in R• 10 minutes
- Considering Whether Balanced Is Always Better• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Navigating Data Complexity in Machine Learning• 10 minutes
In this section, we learn to enhance machine learning models by systematically tuning hyperparameters and applying ensemble methods such as bagging, boosting, and stacking for improved predictive performance.
What's included
1 video13 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Building Better Learners - Overview Video• 1 minute
13 readings• Total 130 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- Determining the Scope of Hyperparameter Tuning• 10 minutes
- Example Using caret for Automated Tuning• 10 minutes
- Creating a Simple Tuned Model• 10 minutes
- Customizing the Tuning Process• 10 minutes
- Improving Model Performance with Ensembles• 10 minutes
- Popular Ensemble-Based Algorithms• 10 minutes
- Boosting• 10 minutes
- Random Forests• 10 minutes
- Gradient Boosting• 10 minutes
- Extreme Gradient Boosting with XGBoost• 10 minutes
- Why Are Tree-Based Ensembles So Popular?• 10 minutes
- Practical Methods for Blending and Stacking in R• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Mastering Ensemble Methods and Model Optimization• 10 minutes
In this section, we examine how to apply deep learning models in R using frameworks like Keras and TensorFlow, process large, unstructured data formats, and implement parallel computing for scalable machine learning solutions.
What's included
1 video16 readings1 assignment
1 video• Total 1 minute
- Making Use of Big Data - Overview Video• 1 minute
16 readings• Total 160 minutes
- Introduction• 10 minutes
- Choosing Appropriate Tasks for Deep Learning• 10 minutes
- The TensorFlow and Keras Deep Learning Frameworks• 10 minutes
- Understanding Convolutional Neural Networks• 10 minutes
- Transfer Learning and Fine Tuning• 10 minutes
- Unsupervised Learning and Big Data• 10 minutes
- Understanding Word Embeddings• 10 minutes
- Example Using word2vec for Understanding Text in R• 10 minutes
- Visualizing Highly Dimensional Data• 10 minutes
- Understanding the t-SNE Algorithm• 10 minutes
- Example Visualizing Data's Natural Clusters With t-SNE• 10 minutes
- Adapting R to Handle Large Datasets• 10 minutes
- Using a Database Backend for dplyr with dbplyr• 10 minutes
- Enabling Parallel Processing in R• 10 minutes
- Parallel Computing with MapReduce Concepts via Apache Spark• 10 minutes
- Learning via Distributed and Scalable Algorithms with H2O• 10 minutes
1 assignment• Total 10 minutes
- Exploring Deep Learning and Data Analysis Methods• 10 minutes
Instructor

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Packt helps tech professionals put software to work by distilling and sharing the working knowledge of their peers. Packt is an established global technical learning content provider, founded in Birmingham, UK, with over twenty years of experience delivering premium, rich content from groundbreaking authors on a wide range of emerging and popular technologies.
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