Apriori Frequent Item set in Dataset (Association Rule Mining)

Algorithm>>>>
Apriori algorithm is given by R. Agrawal and R. Srikant in 1994 for finding
frequent itemsets in a dataset for boolean association rule.

This algorithm uses two steps “join” and “prune” to reduce the search space.
It is an iterative approach to discover the most frequent itemsets.

By association rules, we identify the set of items or attributes that occur

together in a table.
What Is A Frequent Itemset?
A set of items is called frequent if it satisfies a minimum threshold value for
support and confidence.

Support shows transactions with items purchased together in a single

transaction.

Confidence shows transactions where the items are purchased one after the
other.

For frequent itemset mining method, we consider only those transactions

which meet minimum threshold support and confidence requirements.
Frequent Pattern Mining (FPM)
 The frequent pattern mining algorithm is one of the most important techniques of
data mining to discover relationships between different items in a dataset.

 These relationships are represented in the form of association rules. It helps to

find the irregularities in data.

 FPM has many applications in the field of data analysis, cross-marketing, sale
campaign analysis, market basket analysis, etc.

 Association rules apply to supermarket transaction data, that is, to examine the
customer behaviour in terms of the purchased products.

 Association rules describe how often the items are purchased together.
Association rule mining consists of 2 steps:
1.Find all the frequent itemsets.
2.Generate association rules from the above frequent itemsets.
Apriori says:
The probability that item I is not frequent is if:
•P(I) < minimum support threshold, then I is not frequent.
•P (I+A) < minimum support threshold, then I+A is not frequent, where A also
belongs to itemset.

•If an itemset set has value less than minimum support then all of its supersets will
also fall below min support, and thus can be ignored. This property is called the
Antimonotone property.

The steps followed in the Apriori Algorithm of data mining are:

1.Join Step: This step generates (K+1) itemset from K-itemsets by joining each item
with itself.

2.Prune Step: This step scans the count of each item in the database. If the
candidate item does not meet minimum support, then it is regarded as infrequent
and thus it is removed. This step is performed to reduce the size of the candidate
itemsets.
– If an itemset is frequent, then all of its subsets must
also be frequent.

• Anti-monotonicity property (of support):

– The support of an itemset never exceeds the support

of any of its subsets.

If an itemset set has value less than minimum support then all of its
supersets will also fall below min support, and thus can be ignored.
This property is called the Antimonotone property.
Steps In Apriori
 Apriori algorithm is a sequence of steps to be followed to find the most frequent
itemset in the given database.

 This data mining technique follows the join and the prune steps iteratively until the
most frequent itemset is achieved.

 A minimum support threshold is given in the problem or it is assumed by the user.

#1) In the first iteration of the algorithm, each item is taken as a 1-

itemsets candidate. The algorithm will count the occurrences of each
item.

#2) Let there be some minimum support, min_sup ( eg 2). The set of 1 –
itemsets whose occurrence is satisfying the min sup are determined.
Only those candidates which count more than or equal to min_sup, are
taken ahead for the next iteration and the others are pruned.
#3) Next, 2-itemset frequent items with min_sup are discovered. For this in the join
step, the 2-itemset is generated by forming a group of 2 by combining items with
itself.

#4) The 2-itemset candidates are pruned using min-sup threshold value. Now the
table will have 2 –itemsets with min-sup only.

#5) The next iteration will form 3 –itemsets using join and prune step. This iteration
will follow antimonotone property where the subsets of 3-itemsets, that is the 2 –
itemset subsets of each group fall in min_sup. If all 2-itemset subsets are frequent
then the superset will be frequent otherwise it is pruned.

#6) Next step will follow making 4-itemset by joining 3-itemset with itself and
pruning if its subset does not meet the min_sup criteria. The algorithm is stopped
when the most frequent itemset is achieved.
Apriori Algorithm: Worked Database
Example D
Given that the Transacti
on Items
Support
threshold=50%, T1 A,B,C
T2 B,C,D Support threshold=
Confidence= 60%
T3 D,E 50% => 0.5*6= 3 => min_sup
T4 A,B,D
1- T5 A,B,C,E
itemset T6 A,B,C,D
C1 L1
Itemse
Scan D Compare candidate Itemse
for count t Sup_Count support count with t Sup_Count
of each {A} 4 minimum support
candidat count {A} 4
{B} 5
e {B} 5
{C} 4
{C} 4
{D} 4
1. Count{D} 4 Item
Of Each
{E} 2 2. Prune Step: TABLE -2 shows that E item does
not meet min_sup=3, thus it is deleted, only A,
B, C, D meet min_sup count
3. Join Step: Form 2-itemset. From TABLE-1 find out the occurrences of 2-
itemset
2-
itemset
C2 C2 L2
Itemset Itemset Sup_Count Itemse Sup_Cou
Generate Scan D {A,B} 4
{A,B} Compare candidate t nt
C2 for count
Candidates {A,C} of each
{A,C} 3 support count with
{A,B} 4
minimum support
from L1 {A,D} candidat {A,D} 2 X count {A,C} 3
{B,C} e {B,C} 4
{B,C} 4
{B,D} {B,D} 3
{B,D} 3
{C,D} {C,D} 2 X

4. Prune Step: C2 shows that item set {A, D} and {C, D} does not meet min_sup, thus it is
deleted.
5. Join and Prune Step: Form 3-itemset. From the database find out occurrences
of 3-itemset. From L2, find out the 2-itemset subsets which support min_sup.
C3 Join & Prune C3
Supp_Cou L3
Itemset
Itemset nt
Generate Supp_Coun
C3
{A,B, C} Compare candidate
{A,B, C} 3
Candidates {A,B,D support count with Itemset t
{A,B,D 2 minimum support
from L2 {A,B, C} 3
count
{A,C, D}
{A,C, D} 1
{B,C,D}
{B,C,D} 2
We can see for itemset {A, B, C} subsets, {A, B}, {A, C}, {B, C} are occurring
in L3 thus {A, B, C} is frequent.
We can see for itemset {A, B, D} subsets, {A, B}, {A, AD}, {B, D}, {A, D} is not
frequent, as it is not occurring in L3 thus {A, B, D} is not frequent, hence it is deleted
*Only {A, B, C} is frequent

C4 = ɸ
 Generate Association Rules
From the frequent itemset discovered above ({A,B,C}) the association could be:

A, B} => {C} Confidence = support {A, B, C} / support {A, B} = (3/ 4)* 100 =
75%

{A, C} => {B} Confidence = support {A, B, C} / support {A, C} = (3/ 3)* 100 =
100%

{B, C} => {I1} Confidence = support {A, B, C} / support {B, C} = (3/ 4)* 100 =
75%

{A} => {B, C} Confidence = support {A, B, C} / support {A} = (3/ 4)* 100 =
75%

{B} => {A, C} Confidence = support {A, B, C} / support {B} = (3/ 5)* 100 =
60%

{C} => {A, B} Confidence = support {A, B, C} / support {C} = (3/ 4)* 100 =