Construction of Decision Trees

Abstract

The construction of optimal decision trees for the problem stated within can be accomplished by an exhaustive enumeration. This paper discusses two approaches. The section on heuristic methods gives mostly negative results (E.G. there is no merit factor that will always yield the optimal tests, etc.), but most to these methods do give good results. The section entitled "Exhaustive Enumeration Revisited" indicates some powerful shortcuts that can be applied to an exhaustive enumeration, extending the range of this method.