What is the difference between classification and prediction?

Question

What is the difference between classification and prediction in machine learning?

Answer 1

Classification is the prediction of a categorial variable within a predefined vocabulary based on training examples.

The prediction of numerical (continuous) variables is called regression.

In summary, classification is one kind of prediction, but there are others. Hence, prediction is a more general problem.

Answer 2

Functionality

• Classification is about determining a (categorial) class (or label) for an element in a dataset

• Prediction is about predicting a missing/unknown element(continuous value) of a dataset

Working Strategy

• In classification, data is grouped into categories based on a training dataset.

• In prediction, a classification/regression model is built to predict the outcome(continuous value)

Example

In a hospital, the grouping of patients based on their medical record or treatment outcome is considered classification, whereas, if you use a classification model to predict the treatment outcome for a new patient, it is considered a prediction.