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Influence diagrams are closely related to decision trees and often used in conjunction with them. An influence diagram displays a summary of the information contained in a decision tree. It involves four variable types for notation: a decision (a rectangle), chance (an oval), objective (a hexagon), and function (a rounded rectangle). Influence diagrams also use solid lines to denote influence. Their appearance is very similar to a flowchart.
Influence diagrams show the dependencies among variables. This is an important distinction between influence diagrams and decision trees. Decision trees offer much more detail about each possible decision.
An influence diagram involves 4 variable types for notation: a decision (a rectangle), chance (an oval), objective (a hexagon), and function (a rounded rectangle).
If a decision tree is very complex and needs to either be explained to someone or presented, an Influence Diagram is very helpful as it will give an higher level explanation of what was discovered using the decision tree.
There are many different ways to create an influence diagram. They can be created using pen and paper, white boarded, or, more efficiently created by diagramming software.
Here are the basic steps:
The best way to understand influence diagrams is to look at some examples of influence diagrams.
Click on any of these influence diagrams included in SmartDraw and edit them:
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