Ans. Simply stated, data mining refers to extracting or “mining” knowledge from large amounts of data. The term is actually a misnomer. As we know that mining of gold from. rocks or sand. is referred to as gold mining rather than rock or sand mining, Thus, data mining should have been more appropriately named knowledge mining from data” which is unfortunately somewhat long.
“knowledge ruining” a shorter term, may not reflect the emphasis on mining from large amounts of data. Nevertheless, mining is a vivid term characterizing the process that finds a small set of precious nuggets from a great deal of raw material. Thus, such a misnomer that carries both “data” and “mining”. became a popular choice. Many other terms carry a similar or slightly different meaning to data mining, such as knowledge mining from data, knowledge extraction, data/pattern analysis, data archaeology, and data dredging.
