Machine Learning (Chapter 41): The ROC Curve

Machine Learning (Chapter 39): The ROC Curve Introduction to ROC Curve The ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curve is a graphical representation used in binary classification problems to evaluate the performance of a classifier. It plots the True Positive Rate (TPR) against the False Positive Rate (FPR) at various threshold levels. The curve illustrates the trade-offs between sensitivity (recall) and specificity, helping to visualize a classifier’s capability. A perfect classifier would have a curve that reaches the top-left corner of the plot, whereas a random classifier would result in a diagonal line from (0, 0) to (1, 1). Key Definitions Before diving into the mathematics, let's define key metrics: True Positive (TP) : Correctly predicted positives. False Positive (FP) : Incorrectly predicted positives. True Negative (TN) : Correctly predicted negatives. False Negative (FN) : Incorrectly predicted negatives. From these, we calculate: True Positive Rate (TPR) , also kn...