ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Examples of data mining

Data mining is like looking for clues in a big pile of data. It's like when you are looking for something, like an item you lost at home. Instead of looking through your whole house, you can use data mining to help you focus on the areas that are more likely to have your item.

A good example of data mining would be when a company is trying to figure out which type of advertisements are helping their business the most. They can look at all the data they have about their customers—like what age they are, where they live, and what types of products they like—to figure out which types of advertisements they should focus on. They can also use data mining to find patterns in their customers' purchasing habits. For example, if they notice that their customers always buy a certain type of product right before they buy another, they can use that information to promote related items.