Fast-And-Frugal trees

In artificial intelligence, a fast-and-frugal tree is a type of decision tree. Fast-and-frugal trees are decision-making tools which operate as lexicographic classifiers.^[1] The original fast-and-frugal trees introduced in 2003 by Laura Martignon, et al. are simple both in execution and in construction, and constitute a kind of simple heuristic in the adaptive toolbox postulated by Gerd Gigerenzer and the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition.^[1] Yet recent developments in several fields of application have maintained the simplicity in execution, introducing subtle procedures for construction that have proven extremely relevant for users.^[2]

How a fast-and-frugal tree works

The basic elements on which to ground a binary classification are (sets of) cues. The fast-and-frugal tree establishes a ranking and, according to the ranking, a “topology” of the tree. Once the ranking is established, the fast-and-frugal tree checks one cue at a time, and at each step, one of the possible outcomes of the considered cue is an exit node which allows for a decision.

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