Descriptive, Diagnostic, Predictive, Prescriptive, and Cognitive

• Descriptive: Descriptive analytics helps answer questions about what has happened, based on historical data.
• Diagnostic: Diagnostic analytics helps answer questions about why things happened.
• Predictive: Predictive analytics helps answer questions about what will happen in the future.
• Prescriptive: Prescriptive analytics helps answer questions about what actions should be taken to achieve a goal or target.
• Cognitive: Cognitive analytics attempts to draw inferences from existing data and patterns deriving conclusions.