Synonyms
Definition
Decision trees are compact tree like representations of conditions that specify when a decision should be applied together with the actions/decision. Decision trees consist into intermediate nodes and leaf nodes. The outgoing edges from intermediate nodes are labeled by conditions. The leaf nodes are labeled by decisions or actions. The way decision trees are used is by starting at the root then navigating down on true conditions until a leaf is reached. The action or decision in the leaf is then taken. Decision trees are just a compact representation of decision rules: the condition under which an action is taken is the conjunction of conditions starting at the root of the decision tree and leading to the leaf labeled by the action. An example of a decision tree is given in Fig. 1.
Recommended Reading
Lindley DV. Making decisions. Hoboken: Wiley; 1991.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Dobra, A. (2016). Decision Trees. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_553-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_553-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-7993-3
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Computer SciencesReference Module Computer Science and Engineering