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genrfeatures

Perform automated feature engineering for regression

Since R2021b

    Description

    The genrfeatures function enables you to automate the feature engineering process in the context of a machine learning workflow. Before passing tabular training data to a regression model, you can create new features from the predictors in the data by using genrfeatures. Use the returned data to train the regression model.

    genrfeatures allows you to generate features from variables with data types—such as datetime, duration, and various int types—that are not supported by most regression model training functions. The resulting features have data types that are supported by these training functions.

    To better understand the generated features, use the describe function of the returned FeatureTransformer object. To apply the same training set feature transformations to a test set, use the transform function of the FeatureTransformer object.

    example

    [Transformer,NewTbl] = genrfeatures(Tbl,ResponseVarName,q) uses automated feature engineering to create q features from the predictors in Tbl. The software assumes that the ResponseVarName variable in Tbl is the response and does not create new features from this variable. genrfeatures returns a FeatureTransformer object (Transformer) and a new table (NewTbl) that contains the transformed features.

    By default, genrfeatures assumes that generated features are used to train an interpretable linear regression model. If you want to generate features to improve the accuracy of a bagged ensemble, specify TargetLearner="bag".

    [Transformer,NewTbl] = genrfeatures(Tbl,Y,q) assumes that the vector Y is the response variable and creates new features from the variables in Tbl.

    [Transformer,NewTbl] = genrfeatures(Tbl,formula,q) uses the explanatory model formula to determine the response variable in Tbl and the subset of Tbl predictors from which to create new features.

    example

    [Transformer,NewTbl] = genrfeatures(___,Name=Value) specifies options using one or more name-value arguments in addition to any of the input argument combinations in previous syntaxes. For example, you can change the expected learner type, the method for selecting new features, and the standardization method for transformed data.

    Examples

    collapse all

    Use automated feature engineering to generate new features. Train a linear regression model using the generated features. Interpret the relationship between the generated features and the trained model.

    Load the patients data set. Create a table from a subset of the variables. Display the first few rows of the table.

    load patients
    Tbl = table(Age,Diastolic,Gender,Height,SelfAssessedHealthStatus, ...
        Smoker,Weight,Systolic);
    head(Tbl)
        Age    Diastolic      Gender      Height    SelfAssessedHealthStatus    Smoker    Weight    Systolic
        ___    _________    __________    ______    ________________________    ______    ______    ________
    
        38        93        {'Male'  }      71           {'Excellent'}          true       176        124   
        43        77        {'Male'  }      69           {'Fair'     }          false      163        109   
        38        83        {'Female'}      64           {'Good'     }          false      131        125   
        40        75        {'Female'}      67           {'Fair'     }          false      133        117   
        49        80        {'Female'}      64           {'Good'     }          false      119        122   
        46        70        {'Female'}      68           {'Good'     }          false      142        121   
        33        88        {'Female'}      64           {'Good'     }          true       142        130   
        40        82        {'Male'  }      68           {'Good'     }          false      180        115   
    

    Generate 10 new features from the variables in Tbl. Specify the Systolic variable as the response. By default, genrfeatures assumes that the new features will be used to train a linear regression model.

    rng("default") % For reproducibility
    [T,NewTbl] = genrfeatures(Tbl,"Systolic",10)
    T = 
      FeatureTransformer with properties:
    
                         Type: 'regression'
                TargetLearner: 'linear'
        NumEngineeredFeatures: 10
          NumOriginalFeatures: 0
             TotalNumFeatures: 10
    
    
    NewTbl=100×11 table
        zsc(d(Smoker))    q8(Age)    eb8(Age)    zsc(sin(Height))    zsc(kmd8)    q6(Height)    eb8(Diastolic)    q8(Diastolic)    zsc(fenc(c(SelfAssessedHealthStatus)))    q10(Weight)    Systolic
        ______________    _______    ________    ________________    _________    __________    ______________    _____________    ______________________________________    ___________    ________
    
             1.3863          4          5              1.1483         -0.56842        6               8                 8                         0.27312                        7            124   
           -0.71414          6          6             -0.3877          -2.0772        5               2                 2                         -1.4682                        6            109   
           -0.71414          4          5              1.1036         -0.21519        2               4                 5                         0.82302                        3            125   
           -0.71414          5          6             -1.4552         -0.32389        4               2                 2                         -1.4682                        4            117   
           -0.71414          8          8              1.1036           1.2302        2               3                 4                         0.82302                        1            122   
           -0.71414          7          7             -1.5163         -0.88497        4               1                 1                         0.82302                        5            121   
             1.3863          3          3              1.1036          -1.1434        2               6                 6                         0.82302                        5            130   
           -0.71414          5          6             -1.5163          -0.3907        4               4                 5                         0.82302                        8            115   
           -0.71414          1          2             -1.5163           0.4278        4               3                 3                         0.27312                        9            115   
           -0.71414          2          3            -0.26055        -0.092621        3               5                 6                         0.27312                        3            118   
           -0.71414          7          7             -1.5163          0.16737        4               2                 2                         0.27312                        2            114   
           -0.71414          6          6            -0.26055         -0.32104        3               1                 1                         -1.8348                        5            115   
           -0.71414          1          1              1.1483        -0.051074        6               1                 1                         -1.8348                        7            127   
             1.3863          5          5             0.14351           2.3695        6               8                 8                         0.27312                        10           130   
           -0.71414          3          4             0.96929         0.092962        2               3                 4                         0.82302                        3            114   
             1.3863          8          8              1.1483        -0.049336        6               7                 8                         0.82302                        8            130   
          ⋮
    
    

    T is a FeatureTransformer object that can be used to transform new data, and newTbl contains the new features generated from the Tbl data.

    To better understand the generated features, use the describe object function of the FeatureTransformer object. For example, inspect the first two generated features.

    describe(T,1:2)
                             Type        IsOriginal    InputVariables                          Transformations
                          ___________    __________    ______________    ___________________________________________________________
    
        zsc(d(Smoker))    Numeric          false           Smoker        Variable of type double converted from an integer data type
                                                                         Standardization with z-score (mean = 0.34, std = 0.4761)
        q8(Age)           Categorical      false           Age           Equiprobable binning (number of bins = 8)
    

    The first feature in newTbl is a numeric variable, created by first converting the values of the Smoker variable to a numeric variable of type double and then transforming the results to z-scores. The second feature in newTbl is a categorical variable, created by binning the values of the Age variable into 8 equiprobable bins.

    Use the generated features to fit a linear regression model without any regularization.

    Mdl = fitrlinear(NewTbl,"Systolic",Lambda=0);

    Plot the coefficients of the predictors used to train Mdl. Note that fitrlinear expands categorical predictors before fitting a model.

    p = length(Mdl.Beta);
    [sortedCoefs,expandedIndex] = sort(Mdl.Beta,ComparisonMethod="abs");
    sortedExpandedPreds = Mdl.ExpandedPredictorNames(expandedIndex);
    bar(sortedCoefs,Horizontal="on")
    yticks(1:2:p)
    yticklabels(sortedExpandedPreds(1:2:end))
    xlabel("Coefficient")
    ylabel("Expanded Predictors")
    title("Coefficients for Expanded Predictors")

    Identify the predictors whose coefficients have larger absolute values.

    bigCoefs = abs(sortedCoefs) >= 4;
    flip(sortedExpandedPreds(bigCoefs))
    ans = 1x6 cell
        {'eb8(Diastolic) >= 5'}    {'zsc(d(Smoker))'}    {'q8(Age) >= 2'}    {'q10(Weight) >= 9'}    {'q6(Height) >= 5'}    {'eb8(Diastolic) >= 6'}
    
    

    You can use partial dependence plots to analyze the categorical features whose levels have large coefficients in terms of absolute value. For example, inspect the partial dependence plot for the eb8(Diastolic) variable, whose levels eb8(Diastolic) >= 5 and eb8(Diastolic) >= 6 have coefficients with large absolute values. These two levels correspond to noticeable changes in the predicted Systolic values.

    plotPartialDependence(Mdl,"eb8(Diastolic)",NewTbl);

    Generate new features to improve the predictive performance of an interpretable linear regression model. Compare the test set performance of a linear model trained on the original data to the test set performance of a linear model trained on the transformed features.

    Load the carbig data set, which contains measurements of cars made in the 1970s and early 1980s.

    load carbig

    Convert the Origin variable to a categorical variable. Then create a table containing the predictor variables Acceleration, Displacement, and so on, as well as the response variable MPG. Each row contains the measurements for a single car. Remove rows that have missing values.

    Origin = categorical(cellstr(Origin));
    cars = table(Acceleration,Displacement,Horsepower, ...
        Model_Year,Origin,Weight,MPG);
    Tbl = rmmissing(cars);

    Partition the data into training and test sets. Use approximately 70% of the observations as training data, and 30% of the observations as test data. Partition the data using cvpartition.

    rng("default") % For reproducibility of the partition
    c = cvpartition(size(Tbl,1),Holdout=0.3);
    
    trainIdx = training(c);
    trainTbl = Tbl(trainIdx,:);
    
    testIdx = test(c);
    testTbl = Tbl(testIdx,:);

    Use the training data to generate 45 new features. Inspect the returned FeatureTransformer object.

    [T,newTrainTbl] = genrfeatures(trainTbl,"MPG",45);
    T
    T = 
      FeatureTransformer with properties:
    
                         Type: 'regression'
                TargetLearner: 'linear'
        NumEngineeredFeatures: 43
          NumOriginalFeatures: 2
             TotalNumFeatures: 45
    
    

    Note that T.NumOriginalFeatures is 2, which means the function keeps two of the original predictors.

    Apply the transformations stored in the object T to the test data.

    newTestTbl = transform(T,testTbl);

    Compare the test set performances of a linear model trained on the original features and a linear model trained on the new features.

    Train a linear regression model using the original training set trainTbl, and compute the mean squared error (MSE) of the model on the original test set testTbl. Then, train a linear regression model using the transformed training set newTrainTbl, and compute the MSE of the model on the transformed test set newTestTbl.

    originalMdl = fitrlinear(trainTbl,"MPG");
    originalTestMSE = loss(originalMdl,testTbl,"MPG")
    originalTestMSE = 65.9916
    
    newMdl = fitrlinear(newTrainTbl,"MPG");
    newTestMSE = loss(newMdl,newTestTbl,"MPG")
    newTestMSE = 12.3010
    

    newTestMSE is less than originalTestMSE, which suggests that the linear model trained on the transformed data performs better than the linear model trained on the original data.

    Compare the predicted test set response values to the true response values for both models. Plot the predicted miles per gallon (MPG) along the vertical axis and the true MPG along the horizontal axis. Points on the reference line indicate correct predictions. A good model produces predictions that are scattered near the line.

    predictedTestY = predict(originalMdl,testTbl);
    newPredictedTestY = predict(newMdl,newTestTbl);
    
    plot(testTbl.MPG,predictedTestY,".")
    hold on
    plot(testTbl.MPG,newPredictedTestY,".")
    hold on
    plot(testTbl.MPG,testTbl.MPG)
    hold off
    xlabel("True Miles Per Gallon (MPG)")
    ylabel("Predicted Miles Per Gallon (MPG)")
    legend(["Original Model Results","New Model Results","Reference Line"])

    Use genrfeatures to engineer new features before training a bagged ensemble regression model. Before making predictions on new data, apply the same feature transformations to the new data set. Compare the test set performance of the ensemble that uses the engineered features to the test set performance of the ensemble that uses the original features.

    Read power outage data into the workspace as a table. Remove observations with missing values, and display the first few rows of the table.

    outages = readtable("outages.csv");
    Tbl = rmmissing(outages);
    head(Tbl)
           Region           OutageTime        Loss     Customers     RestorationTime            Cause       
        _____________    ________________    ______    __________    ________________    ___________________
    
        {'SouthWest'}    2002-02-01 12:18    458.98    1.8202e+06    2002-02-07 16:50    {'winter storm'   }
        {'SouthEast'}    2003-02-07 21:15     289.4    1.4294e+05    2003-02-17 08:14    {'winter storm'   }
        {'West'     }    2004-04-06 05:44    434.81    3.4037e+05    2004-04-06 06:10    {'equipment fault'}
        {'MidWest'  }    2002-03-16 06:18    186.44    2.1275e+05    2002-03-18 23:23    {'severe storm'   }
        {'West'     }    2003-06-18 02:49         0             0    2003-06-18 10:54    {'attack'         }
        {'NorthEast'}    2003-07-16 16:23    239.93         49434    2003-07-17 01:12    {'fire'           }
        {'MidWest'  }    2004-09-27 11:09    286.72         66104    2004-09-27 16:37    {'equipment fault'}
        {'SouthEast'}    2004-09-05 17:48    73.387         36073    2004-09-05 20:46    {'equipment fault'}
    

    Some of the variables, such as OutageTime and RestorationTime, have data types that are not supported by regression model training functions like fitrensemble.

    Partition the data into training and test sets. Use approximately 70% of the observations as training data, and 30% of the observations as test data. Partition the data using cvpartition.

    rng("default") % For reproducibility of the partition
    c = cvpartition(size(Tbl,1),Holdout=0.30);
    TrainTbl = Tbl(training(c),:);
    TestTbl = Tbl(test(c),:);

    Use the training data to generate 30 new features to fit a bagged ensemble. By default, the 30 features include original features that can be used as predictors by a bagged ensemble.

    [Transformer,NewTrainTbl] = genrfeatures(TrainTbl,"Loss",30, ...
        TargetLearner="bag");
    Transformer
    Transformer = 
      FeatureTransformer with properties:
    
                         Type: 'regression'
                TargetLearner: 'bag'
        NumEngineeredFeatures: 27
          NumOriginalFeatures: 3
             TotalNumFeatures: 30
    
    

    Create NewTestTbl by applying the transformations stored in the object Transformer to the test data.

    NewTestTbl = transform(Transformer,TestTbl);

    Train a bagged ensemble using the original training set TrainTbl, and compute the mean squared error (MSE) of the model on the original test set TestTbl. Specify only the three predictor variables that can be used by fitrensemble (Region, Customers, and Cause), and omit the two datetime predictor variables (OutageTime and RestorationTime). Then, train a bagged ensemble using the transformed training set NewTrainTbl, and compute the MSE of the model on the transformed test set NewTestTbl.

    originalMdl = fitrensemble(TrainTbl,"Loss ~ Region + Customers + Cause", ...
        Method="bag");
    originalTestMSE = loss(originalMdl,TestTbl)
    originalTestMSE = 1.8999e+06
    
    newMdl = fitrensemble(NewTrainTbl,"Loss",Method="bag");
    newTestMSE = loss(newMdl,NewTestTbl)
    newTestMSE = 1.8617e+06
    

    newTestMSE is less than originalTestMSE, which suggests that the bagged ensemble trained on the transformed data performs slightly better than the bagged ensemble trained on the original data.

    Compare the predicted test set response values to the true response values for both models. Plot the log of the predicted response along the vertical axis and the log of the true response (Loss) along the horizontal axis. Points on the reference line indicate correct predictions. A good model produces predictions that are scattered near the line.

    predictedTestY = predict(originalMdl,TestTbl);
    newPredictedTestY = predict(newMdl,NewTestTbl);
    
    plot(log(TestTbl.Loss),log(predictedTestY),".")
    hold on
    plot(log(TestTbl.Loss),log(newPredictedTestY),".")
    hold on
    plot(log(TestTbl.Loss),log(TestTbl.Loss))
    hold off
    xlabel("log(True Response)")
    ylabel("log(Predicted Response)")
    legend(["Original Model Results","New Model Results","Reference Line"], ...
        Location="southeast")
    xlim([-1 10])
    ylim([-1 10])

    Engineer and inspect new features before training a support vector machine (SVM) regression model with a Gaussian kernel. Then, assess the test set performance of the model.

    Load the carbig data set, which contains measurements of cars made in the 1970s and early 1980s.

    load carbig

    Create a table containing the numeric predictor variables Acceleration, Displacement, and so on, as well as the response variable MPG. Each row contains the measurements for a single car. Remove rows that have missing values.

    cars = table(Acceleration,Displacement,Horsepower, ...
        Model_Year,Weight,MPG);
    Tbl = rmmissing(cars);
    head(Tbl)
        Acceleration    Displacement    Horsepower    Model_Year    Weight    MPG
        ____________    ____________    __________    __________    ______    ___
    
              12            307            130            70         3504     18 
            11.5            350            165            70         3693     15 
              11            318            150            70         3436     18 
              12            304            150            70         3433     16 
            10.5            302            140            70         3449     17 
              10            429            198            70         4341     15 
               9            454            220            70         4354     14 
             8.5            440            215            70         4312     14 
    

    Partition the data into training and test sets. Use approximately 75% of the observations as training data, and 25% of the observations as test data. Partition the data using cvpartition.

    rng("default") % For reproducibility of the partition
    n = length(Tbl.MPG);
    c = cvpartition(n,Holdout=0.25);
    trainTbl = Tbl(training(c),:);
    testTbl = Tbl(test(c),:);

    Use the training data to generate 25 features to fit an SVM regression model with a Gaussian kernel. By default, the 25 features include original features that can be used as predictors by an SVM regression model. Additionally, genrfeatures uses neighborhood component analysis (NCA) to reduce the set of engineered features to the most important predictors. You can use the NCA feature selection method only when the target learner is "gaussian-svm".

    [Transformer,newTrainTbl] = genrfeatures(trainTbl,"MPG",25, ...
        TargetLearner="gaussian-svm")
    Transformer = 
      FeatureTransformer with properties:
    
                         Type: 'regression'
                TargetLearner: 'gaussian-svm'
        NumEngineeredFeatures: 20
          NumOriginalFeatures: 5
             TotalNumFeatures: 25
    
    
    newTrainTbl=294×26 table
        zsc(Acceleration)    zsc(Displacement)    zsc(Horsepower)    zsc(Model_Year)    zsc(Weight)    zsc(Acceleration.*Horsepower)    zsc(Acceleration-Model_Year)    zsc(sin(Displacement))    zsc(sin(Horsepower))    zsc(sin(Model_Year))    zsc(sin(Weight))    zsc(cos(Acceleration))    zsc(cos(Displacement))    zsc(cos(Model_Year))    zsc(cos(Weight))    q12(Acceleration)    q12(Displacement)    q12(Horsepower)    q6(Model_Year)    q19(Weight)    eb12(Acceleration)    eb7(Displacement)    eb9(Horsepower)    eb6(Model_Year)    eb7(Weight)    MPG
        _________________    _________________    _______________    _______________    ___________    _____________________________    ____________________________    ______________________    ____________________    ____________________    ________________    ______________________    ______________________    ____________________    ________________    _________________    _________________    _______________    ______________    ___________    __________________    _________________    _______________    _______________    ___________    ___
    
              -1.2878              1.0999             0.67715            -1.6278           0.6473                0.046384                          0.58974                      -0.95649                 -1.3699                 1.1059                -1.2446                 1.2301                    1.0834                 0.88679               -0.63765               2                    10                  10                 1               14                 3                     6                   5                  1                5         18 
              -1.4652              1.5106              1.5694            -1.6278          0.87016                 0.88366                          0.46488                       -1.2198                  1.3794                 1.1059                 -1.379                0.72852                  -0.27316                 0.88679               0.063193               1                    11                  11                 1               15                 2                     7                   7                  1                5         15 
              -1.6425              1.2049               1.187            -1.6278          0.56711                 0.26966                          0.34001                      -0.78431                  -1.063                 1.1059                -1.0814               0.062328                  -0.98059                 0.88679                0.86743               1                    11                  11                 1               14                 2                     6                   6                  1                4         18 
              -1.8198              1.0521             0.93209            -1.6278          0.58244                -0.17689                          0.21515                       0.65123                  1.3543                 1.1059               -0.61728               -0.60537                    1.4918                 0.88679                 1.2572               1                    10                  10                 1               14                 1                     6                   6                  1                4         17 
              -1.9971              2.2653              2.4107            -1.6278           1.6343                  1.0883                         0.090291                        1.4649                  -0.157                 1.1059               -0.86513                -1.1111                  -0.10886                 0.88679                 1.0923               1                    12                  12                 1               18                 1                     7                   8                  1                6         15 
              -2.3517              2.5041              2.9716            -1.6278           1.6496                  1.0883                         -0.15943                        1.4843                 0.08254                 1.1059                 -0.329                -1.2114                  0.084822                 0.88679                  1.368               1                    12                  12                 1               18                 1                     7                   9                  1                6         14 
               -2.529              2.3704              2.8441            -1.6278           1.6001                    0.71                         -0.28429                       0.34762                  1.3544                 1.1059                 1.3872               -0.78132                    1.5888                 0.88679                -0.2533               1                    12                  12                 1               18                 1                     7                   9                  1                6         14 
               -2.529              1.8927              2.2068            -1.6278           1.0553                 0.18283                         -0.28429                       0.69577                  1.3794                 1.1059                 -1.381               -0.78132                    1.4703                 0.88679              -0.050724               1                    12                  12                 1               16                 1                     7                   8                  1                5         15 
              -1.9971              1.8259              1.6969            -1.6278          0.71687                  0.3937                         0.090291                      -0.26965                 0.45082                 1.1059                0.59822                -1.1111                    1.5569                 0.88679                  1.279               1                    12                  12                 1               15                 1                     7                   7                  1                5         15 
              -2.7063              1.4151               1.442            -1.6278          0.77111                -0.64825                         -0.40916                        1.0025                 0.26939                 1.1059                0.89932               -0.14624                    1.2589                 0.88679                -1.1233               1                    11                  11                 1               15                 1                     6                   7                  1                5         14 
              -1.9971              2.5137              3.0991            -1.6278           0.1544                  1.7582                         0.090291                       0.80367                 -1.3699                 1.1059                 1.1507                -1.1111                   -1.1229                 0.88679                0.80592               1                    12                  12                 1               12                 1                     7                   9                  1                4         14 
             -0.22399            -0.75341            -0.21514            -1.6278         -0.68753                -0.28853                           1.3389                     -0.029778                 0.93084                 1.1059               -0.12343                -1.0007                    1.6048                 0.88679                -1.4439               6                    4                   7                  1               7                  6                     2                   3                  1                2         24 
            -0.046679            0.058585            -0.21514            -1.6278         -0.14393                -0.17069                           1.4638                    -0.0054687                 0.93084                 1.1059               -0.90303                 -1.305                   -1.3204                 0.88679                 1.0596               7                    8                   7                  1               10                 6                     3                   3                  1                3         22 
              0.13063            0.077691            -0.47008            -1.6278         -0.43401                -0.44978                           1.5886                       -1.1016                -0.29461                 1.1059                -1.3741                -1.2761                   0.85875                 0.88679               -0.16461               8                    8                   5                  1               8                  7                     4                   3                  1                3         21 
               1.7264            -0.90626             -1.4643            -1.6278          -1.3207                 -1.4843                           2.7124                       0.62866                  1.2425                 1.1059                0.43728              -0.054514                   -1.2152                 0.88679                 1.3434               12                   3                   1                  1               1                  11                    1                   1                  1                1         26 
              0.66256            -0.83939            -0.21514            -1.6278         -0.68399                 0.30067                           1.9632                      -0.33972                 0.93084                 1.1059              -0.049071                0.36145                   -1.2471                 0.88679                 1.4102               10                   4                   7                  1               7                  8                     2                   3                  1                2         25 
          ⋮
    
    

    By default, genrfeatures standardizes the original features before including them in newTrainTbl.

    Inspect the first three engineered features. Note that the engineered features are stored after the five original features in the Transformer object. Visualize the engineered features by using a matrix of scatter plots and histograms.

    featIndex = 6:8; 
    describe(Transformer,featIndex)
                                          Type      IsOriginal         InputVariables                                 Transformations
                                         _______    __________    ________________________    _______________________________________________________________
    
        zsc(Acceleration.*Horsepower)    Numeric      false       Acceleration, Horsepower    Acceleration .* Horsepower
                                                                                              Standardization with z-score (mean = 1541.3031, std = 403.0917)
        zsc(Acceleration-Model_Year)     Numeric      false       Acceleration, Model_Year    Acceleration - Model_Year
                                                                                              Standardization with z-score (mean = -60.3616, std = 4.0044)
        zsc(sin(Displacement))           Numeric      false       Displacement                sin( )
                                                                                              Standardization with z-score (mean = -0.075619, std = 0.72413)
    
    plotmatrix(newTrainTbl{:,featIndex})

    The plots can help you better understand the engineered features. For example:

    • The top-left plot is a histogram of the zsc(Acceleration.*Horsepower) feature. This feature consists of the standardized element-wise product of the original Acceleration and Horsepower features. The histogram shows that zsc(Acceleration.*Horsepower) has a few outlying values greater than 3.

    • The bottom-left plot is a scatter plot that compares the zsc(Acceleration.*Horsepower) values (along the x-axis) to the zsc(Horsepower.*Weight) values (along the y-axis). The scatter plot shows that the zsc(Horsepower.*Weight) values tend to increase as the zsc(Acceleration.*Horsepower) values increase. Note that this plot contains the same information as the top-right plot, but with the axes flipped.

    Create newTestTbl by applying the transformations stored in the object Transformer to the test data.

    newTestTbl = transform(Transformer,testTbl);

    Train an SVM regression model with a Gaussian kernel using the transformed training set newTrainTbl. Let the fitrsvm function find an appropriate scale value for the kernel function. Compute the mean squared error (MSE) of the model on the transformed test set newTestTbl.

    Mdl = fitrsvm(newTrainTbl,"MPG",KernelFunction="gaussian", ...
        KernelScale="auto");
    testMSE = loss(Mdl,newTestTbl,"MPG")
    testMSE = 8.3955
    

    Compare the predicted test set response values to the true response values. Plot the predicted miles per gallon (MPG) along the vertical axis and the true MPG along the horizontal axis. Points on the reference line indicate correct predictions. A good model produces predictions that are scattered near the line.

    predictedTestY = predict(Mdl,newTestTbl);
    
    plot(newTestTbl.MPG,predictedTestY,".")
    hold on
    plot(newTestTbl.MPG,newTestTbl.MPG)
    hold off
    xlabel("True Miles Per Gallon (MPG)")
    ylabel("Predicted Miles Per Gallon (MPG)")

    The SVM model seems to predict MPG values well.

    Generate features to train a linear regression model. Compute the cross-validation mean squared error (MSE) of the model by using the crossval function.

    Load the patients data set, and create a table containing the predictor data.

    load patients
    Tbl = table(Age,Diastolic,Gender,Height,SelfAssessedHealthStatus, ...
        Smoker,Weight);

    Create a random partition for 5-fold cross-validation.

    rng("default") % For reproducibility of the partition
    cvp = cvpartition(size(Tbl,1),KFold=5);

    Compute the cross-validation MSE for a linear regression model trained on the original features in Tbl and the Systolic response variable.

    CVMdl = fitrlinear(Tbl,Systolic,CVPartition=cvp);
    cvloss = kfoldLoss(CVMdl)
    cvloss = 45.2990
    

    Create the custom function myloss (shown at the end of this example). This function generates 20 features from the training data, and then applies the same training set transformations to the test data. The function then fits a linear regression model to the training data and computes the test set MSE.

    Note: If you use the live script file for this example, the myloss function is already included at the end of the file. Otherwise, you need to create this function at the end of your .m file or add it as a file on the MATLAB® path.

    Compute the cross-validation MSE for a linear model trained on features generated from the predictors in Tbl.

    newcvloss = mean(crossval(@myloss,Tbl,Systolic,Partition=cvp))
    newcvloss = 26.6467
    
    function testloss = myloss(TrainTbl,trainY,TestTbl,testY)
    [Transformer,NewTrainTbl] = genrfeatures(TrainTbl,trainY,20);
    NewTestTbl = transform(Transformer,TestTbl);
    Mdl = fitrlinear(NewTrainTbl,trainY);
    testloss = loss(Mdl,NewTestTbl,testY);
    end

    Input Arguments

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    Original features, specified as a table. Each row of Tbl corresponds to one observation, and each column corresponds to one predictor variable. Optionally, Tbl can contain one additional column for the response variable. Multicolumn variables and cell arrays other than cell arrays of character vectors are not allowed, but datetime, duration, and various int predictor variables are allowed.

    • If Tbl contains the response variable, and you want to create new features from any of the remaining variables in Tbl, then specify the response variable by using ResponseVarName.

    • If Tbl contains the response variable, and you want to create new features from only a subset of the remaining variables in Tbl, then specify a formula by using formula.

    • If Tbl does not contain the response variable, then specify a response variable by using Y. The length of the response variable and the number of rows in Tbl must be equal.

    Data Types: table

    Response variable name, specified as the name of a variable in Tbl.

    You must specify ResponseVarName as a character vector or string scalar. For example, if the response variable Y is stored as Tbl.Y, then specify it as 'Y'. Otherwise, the software treats all columns of Tbl as predictors, and might create new features from Y.

    Data Types: char | string

    Number of features, specified as a positive integer scalar. For example, you can set q to approximately 1.5*size(Tbl,2), which is about 1.5 times the number of original features.

    Data Types: single | double

    Response variable, specified as a numeric column vector. Y and Tbl must have the same number of rows.

    Data Types: single | double

    Explanatory model of the response variable and a subset of the predictor variables, specified as a character vector or string scalar in the form "Y~X1+X2+X3". In this form, Y represents the response variable, and X1, X2, and X3 represent the predictor variables.

    To create new features from only a subset of the predictor variables in Tbl, use a formula. If you specify a formula, then the software does not create new features from any variables in Tbl that do not appear in formula.

    The variable names in the formula must be both variable names in Tbl (Tbl.Properties.VariableNames) and valid MATLAB® identifiers. You can verify the variable names in Tbl by using the isvarname function. If the variable names are not valid, then you can convert them by using the matlab.lang.makeValidName function.

    Data Types: char | string

    Name-Value Arguments

    Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

    Example: genrfeatures(Tbl,"Response",10,TargetLearner="bag",FeatureSelection="oob") specifies that the expected learner type is a bagged ensemble regression model and the method for selecting features is an out-of-bag, predictor importance technique.

    Expected learner type, specified as "linear", "bag", or "gaussian-svm". The software creates and selects new features assuming they will be used to train this type of model.

    ValueExpected Model
    "linear"RegressionLinear — You can create a model by using the fitrlinear function.
    "bag"RegressionBaggedEnsemble — You can create a model by using the fitrensemble function and specifying Method="Bag".
    "gaussian-svm"RegressionSVM (with a Gaussian kernel) — You can create a model by using the fitrsvm function and specifying KernelFunction="gaussian". To create a model with good predictive performance, specify KernelScale="auto".

    Example: TargetLearner="bag"

    Method for including the original features in Tbl in the new table NewTbl, specified as one of the values in this table.

    ValueDescription
    "auto"

    This value is equivalent to:

    • "select" when TargetLearner is "linear"

    • "include" when TargetLearner is "bag" or "gaussian-svm"

    "include"

    The software includes original features that can be used as predictors by the target learner, and excludes features that are:

    • Unsupported, such as datetime and duration variables

    • Constant-valued, including variables with all missing values

    • Numeric with NaN or Inf values (when the TargetLearner is "linear" or "gaussian-svm")

    • Categorical with missing values (when the TargetLearner is "linear" or "gaussian-svm")

    • Categorical with all unique values

    • Categorical with more categories than the CategoricalEncodingLimit value

    "select"The software includes original features that are supported by the target learner and considered to be important by the specified feature selection method (FeatureSelectionMethod).
    "omit"The software omits the original features.

    Note that the software applies the standardization method specified by the TransformedDataStandardization name-value argument to original features included in NewTbl.

    Example: IncludeInputVariables="include"

    Method for selecting new features, specified as one of the values in this table. The software generates many features using various transformations and uses this method to select the important features to include in NewTbl.

    ValueDescription
    "auto"

    This value is equivalent to:

    • "lasso" when TargetLearner is "linear"

    • "oob" when TargetLearner is "bag"

    • "nca" when TargetLearner is "gaussian-svm"

    "lasso"

    Lasso regularization — Available when TargetLearner is "linear"

    To perform feature selection, the software uses fitrlinear with Regularization specified as "lasso". The fitrlinear function uses a vector of regularization strengths (Lambda) to find a linear fit that has the requested number of features with nonzero coefficients (Beta). The software includes these important features in NewTbl.

    "oob"

    Out-of-bag, predictor importance estimates by permutation — Available when TargetLearner is "bag"

    To perform feature selection, the software fits a bagged ensemble of trees and uses the oobPermutedPredictorImportance function to rank the features in the ensemble. The software includes the requested number of top-ranked features in NewTbl.

    "nca"

    Neighborhood component analysis (NCA) — Available when TargetLearner is "gaussian-svm"

    To perform feature selection, the software uses fsrnca to fit a FeatureSelectionNCARegression object, and then sorts the features by their average weights (FeatureWeights). Greater weight indicates greater feature importance. The software includes the requested number of important features in NewTbl.

    To use fsrnca, the genrfeatures function first converts categorical predictors to numeric variables. The function creates dummy variables using two different schemes, depending on whether a categorical variable is unordered or ordered. For an unordered categorical variable, genrfeatures creates one dummy variable for each level of the categorical variable. For an ordered categorical variable, genrfeatures creates one less dummy variable than the number of categories. For details, see Automatic Creation of Dummy Variables.

    "mrmr"

    Minimum redundancy maximum relevance (MRMR) — Available when TargetLearner is "linear", "bag", or "gaussian-svm"

    To perform feature selection, the software uses fsrmrmr to rank the features, and then includes the requested number of top-ranked features in NewTbl.

    For more information on different feature selection methods, see Introduction to Feature Selection.

    Example: FeatureSelection="mrmr"

    Standardization method for the transformed data, specified as one of the values in this table. The software applies this standardization method to both engineered features and original features.

    ValueDescription
    "auto"

    This value is equivalent to:

    • "zscore" when TargetLearner is "linear" or "gaussian-svm"

    • "none" when TargetLearner is "bag"

    "zscore"Center and scale to have mean 0 and standard deviation 1
    "none"Use raw data
    "mad"Center and scale to have median 0 and median absolute deviation 1
    "range"Scale range of data to [0,1]

    Example: TransformedDataStandardization="range"

    Maximum number of categories allowed in a categorical predictor, specified as a nonnegative integer scalar. If a categorical predictor has more than the specified number of categories, then genrfeatures does not create new features from the predictor and excludes the predictor from the new table NewTbl. The default value is 50 when TargetLearner is "linear" or "gaussian-svm", and Inf when TargetLearner is "bag".

    Example: CategoricalEncodingLimit=20

    Data Types: single | double

    Output Arguments

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    Engineered feature transformer, returned as a FeatureTransformer object. To better understand the engineered features, use the describe object function of Transformer. To apply the same feature transformations on a new data set, use the transform object function of Transformer.

    Generated features, returned as a table. Each row corresponds to an observation, and each column corresponds to a generated feature. If the response variable is included in Tbl, then NewTbl also includes the response variable. Use this table to train a regression model of type TargetLearner.

    NewTbl contains generated features in the following order: original features, engineered features as ranked by the feature selection method, and the response variable.

    Tips

    • By default, when TargetLearner is "linear" or "gaussian-svm", the software generates new features from numeric predictors by using z-scores (see TransformedDataStandardization). You can change the type of standardization for the transformed features. However, using some method of standardization, thereby avoiding the "none" specification, is strongly recommended. Fitting linear and SVM models works best with standardized data.

    • When you generate features to create an SVM model with good predictive performance, specify KernelScale as "auto" in the call to fitrsvm. This specification allows the software to find an appropriate scale value for the SVM kernel function.

    Version History

    Introduced in R2021b

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