Using A Decision Tree To Determine Where To Go

Choices

Life is full of choices, and this can cause stress. If I make a certain choice, it often excludes another choice. If I am in Eindhoven and choose to take the train to Amsterdam, I can no longer choose to go to Maastricht, but I still have the choice to get off in Den Bosch or Utrecht. If I definitively choose Amsterdam, I will be faced with other choices:

• What am I going to do?

• Where am I going in Amsterdam?

A decision tree can be made for all these choices in succession.

Consecutive Choices

A decision tree is an overview of choices and options. Boarding the train to Amsterdam excludes going to other cities that are not on the Amsterdam train route. They are successive choices that I make.

Single And Multiple Choices

With a decision tree I can deal with a simple and multiple choice. For example the train to Amsterdam and not the train to Amsterdam. Multiple choice is the train to Amsterdam, the train to The Hague and the train to Maastricht.

A Decision Tree

A decision tree is there to facilitate choices and to have an overview of which choices are possible. It also shows that if I make a choice, I exclude another choice. In science, decision trees are used to make automated choices based on probability. The costs, advantages, disadvantages, and opportunities can play a role in the decision.

Create A Decision Tree

A decision tree usually starts with a single node that branches into possible outcomes. Each of these outcomes leads to additional nodes that branch into other possibilities. This gives it the shape of a tree.

Why Do I Use A Decision Tree? 

A decision tree is used because:

• Decision trees are easy to understand

• It is clear what the options are

• It is clear which choice excludes another choice

• They help me choose the right option.

Decision Tree Train Journey From Eindhoven

A decision tree from Eindhoven station to determine where I am going looks like the first picture. This is a simple example of a decision tree. More complex decision trees are used to analyze Big Data. The decision tree helps to get order in Big Data that is unorganized.