Methods for building regression trees in a distributed computing environment

摘要

Systems and methods are disclosed for building and using decision trees, preferably in a scalable and distributed manner. Our system can be used to create and use classification trees, regression trees, or a combination of regression trees called a gradient boosted regression tree (GBRT). Our system leverages approximate histograms in new ways to process large datasets, or data streams, while limiting inter-process communication bandwidth requirements. Further, in some embodiments, a scalable network of computers or processors is utilized for fast computation of decision trees. Preferably, the network comprises a tree structure of processors, comprising a master node and a plurality of worker nodes or “workers,” again arranged to limit necessary communications.