Understanding classification in supervised machine learning

Classification models in the context of machine learning are supervised models whose objectives are to classify or categorize items based on previously learned examples. You will encounter classification models in many forms as they tend to be some of the most common models used in the field of data science. There are three main types of classifiers that we can develop based on the outputs of the model.

Figure 7.7 – The three types of supervised classification

The first type is known as a binary classifier. As the name suggests, this is a classifier that predicts in a binary fashion in the sense that an output is one of two options, such as emails being spam or not spam, or molecules being toxic or not toxic. There is no third option in either of these cases, rendering the model a binary classifier.

The second type of classifier is known as a multiclass classifier. This type of classifier...