Contrast trees and distribution boosting.

ABSTRACT: A method for decision tree induction is presented. Given a set of predictor variables [Formula: see text] and two outcome variables y and z associated with each x, the goal is to identify those values of x for which the respective distributions of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], or selected properties of those distributions such as means or quantiles, are most different. Contrast trees provide a lack-of-fit measure for statistical models of such statistics, or for the complete conditional distribution [Formula: see text], as a function of x. They are easily interpreted and can be used as diagnostic tools to reveal and then understand the inaccuracies of models produced by any learning method. A corresponding contrast-boosting strategy is described for remedying any uncovered e

SUBMITTER: Friedman JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7474603 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature