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Receiver operating characteristic

A receiver operating characteristic curve plots a binary classifier’s true-positive rate against its false-positive rate as the decision threshold varies.

How 7 Manning books explain it

Grokking Machine Learning

A receiver operating characteristic curve is a plot of classifier sensitivity against its false-positive rate across decision thresholds.

How it is used
Evaluates classification models by showing how sensitivity and specificity change across decision thresholds.
How deep it goes
Defines sensitivity and specificity, tracks them as thresholds change, and uses AUC to compare models.
Examples
Uses health diagnosis and spam detection to illustrate classification thresholds, plus a worked sequence of threshold steps.
What you can do after
Evaluate classifier performance and select a threshold that balances sensitivity and specificity for the task.

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Statistics Slam Dunk

A ROC curve plots a binary classifier's true positive rate against its false positive rate across decision thresholds.

How it is used
Evaluates binary logistic-regression classifiers by comparing sensitivity, specificity, and overall discrimination.
How deep it goes
Defines sensitivity, specificity, AUC, and thresholded accuracy, then demonstrates computation and plotting while stopping short of threshold optimization.
Examples
Uses NBA playoff predictions, an 80-record confusion matrix, an AUC of 0.73, and plots comparing two logistic regressions.
What you can do after
Diagnose classification performance with pROC and base R, then interpret AUC alongside sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and error rate.

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Starting Data Analytics with Generative AI and Python

A plot of true positive rate against false positive rate across classification thresholds.

How it is used
Compares classifier performance across decision thresholds when the acceptable sensitivity-specificity trade-off is uncertain.
How deep it goes
Defines the plotted rates and threshold relationship, then stops short of detailed ROC construction or mathematical derivation.
Examples
Uses an all-positive classifier and a sensitivity-specificity figure to illustrate threshold trade-offs.
What you can do after
Evaluate classifier effectiveness and make informed threshold decisions by comparing true and false positive rates.

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Statistics Every Programmer Needs

A receiver operating characteristic curve plots a binary classifier's true positive rate against its false positive rate across decision thresholds.

How it is used
Evaluates binary-classification discrimination across thresholds and supports model optimization and deployment decisions.
How deep it goes
Defines ROC geometry, explains AUC and class imbalance, and demonstrates plotting with scikit-learn; it does not develop a mathematical derivation.
Examples
Uses raisin-variety classification, an AUC of 0.87, and a plotted random-guessing baseline.
What you can do after
Evaluate binary classifiers via scikit-learn's roc_auc_score() and roc_curve(), then interpret and plot their discrimination.

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Grokking Statistics

A receiver operating characteristic curve plots a classifier's true-positive rate against its false-positive rate across decision thresholds.

How it is used
Evaluates classifier performance across decision thresholds and exposes false-alarm versus missed-alarm tradeoffs.
How deep it goes
Defines TPR and FPR, explains threshold tradeoffs, and introduces AUC while deferring fuller AUC discussion.
Examples
Uses toddler-meltdown predictions, wolf sightings, spam email, a 25-to-100-sample expansion, and scikit-learn code.
What you can do after
Evaluate classifiers with scikit-learn's roc_curve and roc_auc_score across decision thresholds.

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Machine Learning Algorithms in Depth

A receiver operating characteristic curve plots the true positive rate against the false positive rate across classification thresholds.

How it is used
Evaluates binary-classifier performance across changing classification thresholds.
How deep it goes
Defines TPR and FPR, explains threshold-generated points, and summarizes quality with AUC.
Examples
Uses a ROC plot, the upper-left perfect-classification point, and the diagonal chance-level line.
What you can do after
Evaluate binary classifiers using TPR, FPR, threshold plots, and AUC.

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Financial AI in Practice

A curve that plots a classifier’s true positive rate against its false positive rate across decision thresholds.

How it is used
Evaluates how a credit model trades off catching defaults against falsely flagging nondefaulting borrowers across decision cutoffs.
How deep it goes
Defines the curve using true- and false-positive rates across cutoffs, then distinguishes it from AUC and notes its cost limitation.
Examples
Illustrates defaults versus nondefaults and a hypothetical rejection cutoff of 650.
What you can do after
Evaluate a credit model’s discrimination across cutoffs and compare ranking power before applying business rules.

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Related concepts

These guides are generated from the text of Manning books by Manning's knowledge graph and link to the sections they draw on. The full books are available on liveBook and at manning.com.