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Data Preprocessing Preparing Data for Success

Data preprocessing is essential for successful machine learning, as real data is often incomplete and noisy, requiring significant cleaning efforts. Key steps include handling missing data, cleaning inconsistencies, transforming data through scaling, and encoding categorical variables. Best practices involve thorough documentation, version control, and leveraging libraries like scikit-learn and pandas for efficient processing.

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9 views8 pages

Data Preprocessing Preparing Data for Success

Data preprocessing is essential for successful machine learning, as real data is often incomplete and noisy, requiring significant cleaning efforts. Key steps include handling missing data, cleaning inconsistencies, transforming data through scaling, and encoding categorical variables. Best practices involve thorough documentation, version control, and leveraging libraries like scikit-learn and pandas for efficient processing.

Uploaded by

prarit.work
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Data Preprocessing:

Preparing Data for Success


Data preprocessing is crucial for machine learning success. Real data
is often incomplete, inconsistent, and noisy. Poor data leads to poor
models—garbage in, garbage out. According to Forbes (2023), data
scientists spend up to 80% of their time cleaning data.

By: Prarit Arora


Payal
Aryan Misra
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Understanding Your Data
Data Types
Numerical, categorical, and ordinal data require different treatments.

Descriptive Statistics
Mean, median, standard deviation, and quartiles summarize data
characteristics.

Data Visualization
Histograms, box plots, and scatter plots reveal data distribution and patterns.

Data Issues
Detect missing values, outliers, and inconsistent entries early.
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Handling Missing Data
Common Causes
Data entry errors and system failures create gaps.

Simple Techniques
Imputation using mean, median, or mode; deletion methods.

Advanced Methods
k-NN and regression imputations handle complex missingness.

Example
Median age replacement with sklearn's SimpleImputer
minimizes bias.

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Data Cleaning: Removing
Noise and Inconsistencies
Error Correction
Fix typos and wrong formats to enhance data reliability.

Outlier Treatments
Use Z-score, IQR, or winsorizing to handle outliers.

Deduplication
Remove duplicate records to prevent skewed analysis.

Resolving Conflicts
Standardize units and fix inconsistent entries across data.
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Data Transformation: Scaling and
Normalization
Why Transform?
Different feature scales bias model training and predictions.

Min-Max Scaling
Normalizes data to a range between 0 and 1.

Z-score Standardization
Centers data with mean zero and unit variance.

Tools
Use StandardScaler in scikit-learn for standardization.
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Data Encoding: Converting Categorical Data
Need for Encoding Encoding Techniques

Models require numerical data inputs to process • One-hot encoding creates binary columns per
categories. category
• Label encoding assigns unique integers
• Ordinal encoding suits ordered categories like ratings

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Feature Selection and Engineering
Feature Selection Selection Methods
1 2
Choose relevant features to reduce Filter, wrapper, and embedded
model complexity. approaches improve accuracy.

Benefits Feature Engineering


Enhances model generalization and Create new features like distance from
4 3
performance. city center using lat/long.

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Best Practices and Tools
Documentation Version Control Validation
Record all preprocessing steps Track changes using version Rigorously test preprocessing
for transparency and control systems like Git. pipelines to ensure data
reproducibility. quality.

Recommended Libraries Domain Knowledge


Utilize scikit-learn, pandas, and NumPy for efficient Apply domain expertise for effective data
processing. preprocessing decisions.

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