Algorithms For Dummies

Spotting Data Patterns

Data doesn’t exist in a vacuum. All sorts of factors affect data, including biases 

that color how humans perceive data. Chapter 10 starts a discussion of how data 

tends to cluster in certain environments and how analysis of these clusters can 

tell you all sorts of things about the data.

Pattern analysis is at the forefront of some of the more amazing uses of comput-

ers today. For example, the Viola–Jones object detection framework makes real-

time facial recognition possible. This algorithm could enable people to create 

better security in places like airports where nefarious individuals currently ply 

their trade. Similar algorithms could help your doctor detect cancers of various 

sorts long before the cancer is actually visible to the human eye. Earlier detection 

makes a full recovery a higher probability. The same holds true for all sorts of 

other  medical  problems  (such  as  finding  bone  fractures  that  are  currently  too 

small to see but cause pain nonetheless).

You also find pattern recognition used for more mundane purposes. For example, 

pattern analysis lets people detect potential traffic problems before they occur. 

It’s also possible to use pattern analysis to help farmers grow more food at a lower 

cost by applying water and fertilizer only when necessary. The use of pattern rec-

ognition  can  also  help  move  drones  around  fields  so  that  the  farmer  becomes 

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CHAPTER 21