In this seminar, Özgür Şimşek (University of Bath) gives an introduction to fast-and-frugal classifiers. These are precise, formal models of classification designed to make fast, accurate, and transparent decisions in real-world situations. Two families of classifiers - tallying models and fast-and-frugal trees - are explored, and Özgür shows how to construct them using the R package ffcr: Fast and Frugal Classification in R. This R package accompanies the book Classification in the Wild: The Science and Art of Transparent Decision Making (Katsikopoulos, Şimşek, Buckmann, Gigerenzer; 2020), which describes fast-and-frugal classifiers, their applications, and the algorithms used to construct them in detail.

The seminar was hosted by James King (Science Practice) and Emilie Rosenlund Soysal (London Mathematical Laboratory).