Topic:10 Outliers

Brijesh Soni
4 min readFeb 27, 2023

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In what sense are Outliers defined?

Outliers are data points that are significantly different from other observations in a dataset. Outliers can be caused by various factors, such as measurement errors, data entry errors, or natural variations in the data. Outliers can have a significant impact on the results of statistical analyses and machine learning models, so it’s important to identify and handle them appropriately.

There are several methods for identifying outliers, including statistical tests, visualization techniques, and algorithms that use machine learning models. Once outliers have been identified, there are several options for handling them, including removing them from the dataset, transforming the data to reduce their impact, or using algorithms that are robust to outliers. The best approach depends on the nature of the data, the goals of the analysis, and the assumptions of the methods being used.

What is the best method for removing Outliers from our data?

There are several techniques for removing outliers from data:

  1. Z-Score Method: This method involves calculating the Z-score of each data point and identifying the points that are more than a certain number of standard deviations away from the mean. These points are considered outliers and can be removed from the dataset.
  2. Interquartile Range (IQR) Method: This method involves calculating the first and third quartiles (Q1 and Q3) of the data and determining the interquartile range (IQR). Data points that are more than 1.5 times the IQR below Q1 or above Q3 are considered outliers and can be removed.
  3. Mahalanobis Distance Method: This method is based on multivariate statistics and takes into account the covariance between variables. It calculates the Mahalanobis distance between each data point and the mean and removes the points that are more than a certain number of standard deviations away from the mean.
  4. Winsorizing: This method involves replacing outliers with a specified value (e.g., the value of the nearest quartile). The advantage of this method is that it retains more of the original data than removing outliers, but it can introduce biases into the analysis.
  5. Imputation: This method involves replacing outliers with estimated values based on the other data in the dataset. This can be done using methods such as mean imputation, median imputation, or regression imputation.

It’s important to carefully consider the impact of removing outliers on the analysis, as well as the assumptions and limitations of the techniques used. In some cases, outliers may provide important information, so it may be more appropriate to keep them in the dataset and use methods that are robust to outliers.

What impact does our data have on Outliers?

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Our data can have a significant impact on outliers in several ways:

  1. Identification of Outliers: The data we collect can be used to identify outliers, which are data points that deviate significantly from the norm. By analyzing the distribution of our data, we can identify data points that are outside of the expected range and may be considered outliers. This can help us to understand the causes of outliers and take appropriate actions to address them.
  2. Influence on Statistical Analysis: Outliers can have a significant impact on statistical analysis, such as mean, standard deviation, and correlation coefficients. Outliers can skew the results of statistical analysis, making them less reliable. Therefore, it is important to identify and remove outliers before conducting statistical analysis.
  3. Impact on Machine Learning Models: Outliers can have a significant impact on the accuracy of machine learning models. If outliers are not properly identified and removed, they can influence the training of the model and reduce its accuracy. Therefore, it is important to preprocess the data and remove outliers before training machine learning models.
  4. Impact on Data Visualization: Outliers can also impact data visualization. If outliers are not removed or properly scaled, they can cause the visualization to be skewed or difficult to interpret. Therefore, it is important to remove or scale outliers before creating visualizations.

In summary, the impact of our data on outliers is significant. Properly identifying, analyzing, and addressing outliers is crucial to ensuring the accuracy and reliability of data analysis and machine learning models.

Particle Implementation for removing Outliers👇

Z-Score || IQR || Winsorization

Conclusions

In conclusion, outliers are observations in the data that lie outside the typical range of values and can have a significant impact on the results of a machine-learning model. They can cause bias, and incorrect predictions, and affect the performance of certain algorithms. Therefore, it is important to identify and handle outliers before training a model to ensure the best results. This can be done by using techniques such as visualizations, statistical tests, and imputation methods.

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Brijesh Soni

🤖 Deep Learning Researcher 🤖 and Join as Data Science volunteer on @ds_chat_bot 👉👉 https://www.instagram.com/ds_chat_bot/