What is data mining?

Data mining is defined as the process of analyzing large sets of data to uncover patterns, correlations, or trends that might not be immediately obvious. This involves using various methods from statistics, machine learning, and database systems to sift through vast amounts of information and extract meaningful insights.

Identifying patterns can help organizations make informed decisions, recognize customer behaviors, enhance operational efficiency, and predict future outcomes. For example, data mining can be utilized in various fields, such as marketing to recognize customer preferences, healthcare to identify trends in disease outbreaks, and finance to detect fraudulent activities.

The other options describe different concepts unrelated to the core definition of data mining. Software design methods focus on creating applications, data storage pertains to how data is organized and maintained, and databases refer to structured systems for storing information rather than analyzing it.