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Machine Learning Basics for a Newbie
6 Steps of Machine learning Lifecycle Introduction to Predictive Modeling
Introduction to Exploratory Data Analysis & Data Insights Descriptive Statistics Inferential Statistics How to Understand Population Distributions?
Reading Data Files into Python Different Variable Datatypes
Probability for Data Science Basic Concepts of Probability Axioms of Probability Conditional Probability
Central Tendencies for Continuous Variables Spread of Data KDE plots for Continuous Variable Overview of Distribution for Continuous variables Normal Distribution Skewed Distribution Skeweness and Kurtosis Distribution for Continuous Variable
Central Tendencies for Categorical Variables Understanding Discrete Distributions Performing EDA on Categorical Variables
Dealing with Missing Values Understanding Outliers Identifying Outliers in Data Outlier Detection in Python Outliers Detection Using IQR, Z-score, LOF and DBSCAN
Sample and Population Central Limit Theorem Confidence Interval and Margin of Error
Bivariate Analysis Introduction
Covariance Pearson Correlation Spearman's Correlation & Kendall's Tau Correlation versus Causation Tabular and Graphical methods for Bivariate Analysis Performing Bivariate Analysis on Continuous-Continuous Variables
Tabular and Graphical methods for Continuous-Categorical Variables Introduction to Hypothesis Testing P-value Two sample Z-test T-test T-test vs Z-test Performing Bivariate Analysis on Continuous-Catagorical variables
Chi-Squares Test Bivariate Analysis on Categorical Categorical Variables
Multivariate Analysis A Comprehensive Guide to Data Exploration The Data Science behind IPL
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Dealing with Missing Values Replacing Missing Values Imputing Missing Values in Data Working with Categorical Variables Working with Outliers Preprocessing Data for Model Building
Understanding Cost Function Understanding Gradient Descent Math Behind Gradient Descent Assumptions of Linear Regression Implement Linear Regression from Scratch Train Linear Regression in Python Implementing Linear Regression in R Diagnosing Residual Plots in Linear Regression Models Generalized Linear Models Introduction to Logistic Regression Odds Ratio Implementing Logistic Regression from Scratch Introduction to Scikit-learn in Python Train Logistic Regression in python Multiclass using Logistic Regression How to use Multinomial and Ordinal Logistic Regression in R ? Challenges with Linear Regression Introduction to Regularisation Implementing Regularisation Ridge Regression Lasso Regression
Introduction to K Nearest Neighbours Determining the Right Value of K in KNN Implement KNN from Scratch Implement KNN in Python
Bias Variance Tradeoff Introduction to Overfitting and Underfitting Visualizing Overfitting and Underfitting Selecting the Right Model What is Validation? Hold-Out Validation Understanding K Fold Cross Validation
Introduction to Feature Selection Feature Selection Algorithms Missing Value Ratio Low Variance Filter High Correlation Filter Backward Feature Elimination Forward Feature Selection Implement Feature Selection in Python Implement Feature Selection in R
Introduction to Decision Tree Purity in Decision Tree Terminologies Related to Decision Tree How to Select Best Split Point in Decision Tree? Chi-Squares Information Gain Reduction in Variance Optimizing Performance of Decision Tree Train Decision Tree using Scikit Learn Pruning of Decision Trees
Introduction to Feature Engineering Feature Transformation Feature Scaling Feature Engineering Frequency Encoding Automated Feature Engineering: Feature Tools
Introduction to Naive Bayes Conditional Probability and Bayes Theorem Introduction to Bayesian Adjustment Rating: The Incredible Concept Behind Online Ratings! Working of Naive Bayes Math behind Naive Bayes Types of Naive Bayes Implementation of Naive Bayes
Understanding how to solve Multiclass and Multilabled Classification Problem Evaluation Metrics: Multi Class Classification
Introduction to Ensemble Techniques Basic Ensemble Techniques Implementing Basic Ensemble Techniques Finding Optimal Weights of Ensemble Learner using Neural Network Why Ensemble Models Work well?
Different Hyperparameter Tuning methods Implementing Different Hyperparameter Tuning methods GridsearchCV RandomizedsearchCV Bayesian Optimization for Hyperparameter Tuning Hyperopt
Understanding SVM Algorithm SVM Kernels In-depth Intuition and Practical Implementation SVM Kernel Tricks Kernels and Hyperparameters in SVM Implementing SVM from Scratch in Python and R
Introduction to Principal Component Analysis Steps to Perform Principal Compound Analysis Computation of Covariance Matrix Finding Eigenvectors and Eigenvalues Implementing PCA in python Visualizing PCA A Brief Introduction to Linear Discriminant Analysis Introduction to Factor Analysis
Introduction to Clustering Applications of Clustering Evaluation Metrics for Clustering Understanding K-Means Implementation of K-Means in Python Implementation of K-Means in R Choosing Right Value for K Profiling Market Segments using K-Means Clustering Hierarchical Clustering Implementation of Hierarchial Clustering DBSCAN Defining Similarity between clusters Build Better and Accurate Clusters with Gaussian Mixture Models
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8 Ways to Improve Accuracy of Machine Learning Models
Introduction to Dask Working with CuML
Introduction to Machine Learning Interpretability Framework and Interpretable Models model Agnostic Methods for Interpretability Implementing Interpretable Model Understanding SHAP Out-of-Core ML Introduction to Interpretable Machine Learning Models Model Agnostic Methods for Interpretability Game Theory & Shapley Values
Introduction to Machine Learning Interpretability Framework and Interpretable Models model Agnostic Methods for Interpretability Implementing Interpretable Model Understanding SHAP Out-of-Core ML Introduction to Interpretable Machine Learning Models Model Agnostic Methods for Interpretability Game Theory & Shapley Values
Introduction to AutoML Implementation of MLBox Introduction to PyCaret TPOT Auto-Sklearn EvalML
Pickle and Joblib Introduction to Model Deployment
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Introduction to AdaBoost Algorithm with Python

Shipra Saxena
Shipra Saxena Last Updated : 25 Feb, 2024
7 min read

Introduction

In the last article, we saw the Gradient boosting machine and how it works. It works on correcting the errors of previous models by building a new model on the error. The article on Gradient boosting Machine is available on the following link- Gradient Boosting Machine for Data Scientists

Machine learning algorithms have revolutionized the way we tackle complex problems in various domains. From predicting stock prices to diagnosing diseases, these algorithms play a crucial role. In this article, we delve into the realm of regression using the powerful scikit-learn library in Python. While scikit-learn offers an extensive collection of pre-built models, understanding how these algorithms work from scratch is paramount for any aspiring data scientist or machine learning enthusiast. Among these algorithms, regression stands out as a fundamental technique for predicting continuous outcomes based on input features.

One such regression technique is the Adaptive Boosting algorithm, commonly known as AdaBoost. AdaBoost is a boosting technique that iteratively corrects the errors of previous models by assigning higher weights to misclassified data points. By sequentially training weak learners on these weighted data points, AdaBoost constructs a strong ensemble model capable of making accurate predictions. In this article, we not only explore the theoretical underpinnings of AdaBoost but also provide a hands-on implementation using Python’s scikit-learn library. Additionally, we discuss the importance of hyperparameter tuning in optimizing the performance of AdaBoost, demonstrating how variations such as the base estimator and learning rate impact model accuracy. Through this comprehensive exploration, readers will gain a deeper understanding of AdaBoost and its practical applications in real-world scenarios.

Note: If you are more interested in learning concepts in an Audio-Visual format, We have this entire article explained in the video below. If not, you may continue reading.

AdaBoost Algorithm

In the case of AdaBoost, higher points are assigned to the data points which are miss-classified or incorrectly predicted by the previous model. This means each successive model will get a weighted input.

Let’s understand how this is done using an example.

AdaBoost Algorithm

Say, this is my complete data. Here, I have the blue positives and red negatives. Now the first step is to build a model to classify this data.

Model1

Suppose the first model gives the following result, where it is able to classify two blue points on the left side and all red points correctly. But the model also miss-classify the three blue points here.

AdaBoost Model 1

Model 2

Now, these miss- classified data points will be given higher weight. So these three blue positive points will be given higher weights in the next iteration. For representation, the points with higher weight are bigger than the others in the image. Giving higher weights to these points means my model is going to focus more on these values. Now we will build a new model.

AdaBoost Model2

In the second model you will see, the model boundary has been shifted to the right side in order to correctly classify the higher weighted points. Still, it’s not a perfect model. You will notice three red negatives are miss-classified by model 2.

Model 3

Now, these miss-classified red points will get a higher weight. Again we will build another model and do the predictions. The task of the third model is two focus on these three red negative points. So the decision boundary will be something as shown here.

AdaBoost Model3

This new model again incorrectly predicted some data points. At this point, we can say all these individual models are not strong enough to classify the points correctly and are often called weak learners.

Ensemble

And guess what should be our next step. Well, we have to aggregate these models. One of the ways could be taking the weighted average of the individual weak learners. So our final model will be the weighted mean of individual models.

AdaBoost Ensemble

After multiple iterations, we will be able to create the right decision boundary with the help of all the previous weak learners. As you can see the final model is able to classify all the points correctly. This final model is known as a strong learner.

Let’s once again see all the steps taken in AdaBoost.

  1. Build a model and make predictions.
  2. Assign higher weights to miss-classified points.
  3. Build next model.
  4. Repeat steps 3 and 4.
  5. Make a final model using the weighted average of individual models.

Implementation

Now we will see the implementation of the AdaBoost Algorithm on the Titanic dataset.

First, import the required libraries pandas and NumPy and read the data from a CSV file in a pandas data frame.

import the required libraries

Here are the first few rows of the data. Here we are using pre-processed data. So we can see it is a classification problem with those who were survived classified as 1 and those who not labeled as 0.

AdaBoost Algorithm Load Dataset

In the next step, we will separate the independent and dependent variables, Saving the features in x and the target variable in y. Later, divide the data into train and test set using train_test split from sklearn. As shown below.

Seperate Independent variables

Here the stratify is set to y, it is to make sure that the proportion of both the classes remain the same in both the train and test data. Say if you have 60% of class 1 and 40% of class 0 in train data then you would have the same distribution in the test.

Now we will import the AdaBoostClassifier from sklearn.ensemble and create an instance of the same. We have set the random state value to 96, to reproduce the result. Then we used train_x and train_y to train our model.

AdaBoost

Now let’s check the score on training data, it comes around .84. Now we will do the same for the test data and it comes out to be .79.

Hyper-parameter Tuning

Let’s have a look at the hyper-parameters of the AdaBoost model. Hyper-parameters are the values that we give to a model before we start the modeling process. Let’s see all of them.

  • base_estimator: The model to the ensemble, the default is a decision tree.
  • n_estimators: Number of models to be built.
  • learning_rate: shrinks the contribution of each classifier by this value.
  • random_state: The random number seed, so that the same random numbers generated every time.
Hyper-parameter tuning

To experiment with hyper-parameters, this time we have set the base_estimator  as RandomForestClassifier. We are using 100 estimators and learning_rate as 0.01. Now we train the model using the train_x and train_y as previously. Next is to check the score of the new model.

On the basis of the performance, you can change the hyper-parameters accordingly.

Conclusion

AdaBoost, an adaptive boosting algorithm, enhances model performance by assigning higher weights to misclassified data points in each iteration. This iterative process focuses on improving the accuracy of weak learners, ultimately creating a strong classifier through ensemble learning. Through a Python implementation utilizing the AdaBoostClassifier, we observed its effectiveness in binary classification tasks, achieving a training score of approximately 0.84 and a test score of around 0.79. Moreover, hyper-parameter tuning, such as adjusting the base estimator, number of estimators, and learning rate, further offers avenues for optimizing model performance.

Additionally, exploring alternatives like RandomForestClassifier as the base estimator showcases the versatility of AdaBoost. Overall, this article provides a comprehensive understanding of AdaBoost, its implementation in Python, and the significance of ensemble learning techniques in enhancing classification accuracy. Through integrating existing boosting techniques and innovative approaches like deep learning, the realm of ensemble learning continues to evolve, promising even more robust solutions for diverse machine learning tasks.

You can also enroll in our free Python Course Today!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What Is the AdaBoost Algorithm?

A. The AdaBoost algorithm, short for Adaptive Boosting, is an ensemble method utilized for classification tasks. It works by sequentially training a series of weak learners on the training set, where each subsequent learner focuses more on the data points that were misclassified by the previous ones. By adjusting the weights of these data points, AdaBoost aims to minimize the overall error rate. Eventually, the predictions of all weak learners are combined through a weighted sum to form the final prediction. Unlike methods like bagging or random forest, AdaBoost prioritizes the most challenging instances, enhancing its performance metrics and making it a powerful tool alongside neural networks and xgboost.

Q2. How Adaboost Classifier Works?

A. For beginners looking to understand the implementation of AdaBoost, importing necessary libraries like numpy and pandas is the first step. Next, utilizing x_train and y_train data, AdaBoost sequentially trains a series of weak classifiers, often simple models like logistics regression, to optimize performance on the given dataset, such as iris. By adjusting weights based on misclassifications, AdaBoost mitigates overfitting while improving accuracy. Through this iterative process, AdaBoost combines the predictions of multiple weak classifiers to form a robust ensemble model, showcasing its efficacy in enhancing machine learning models for various classification tasks.

Q3. What is AutoML in Machine Learning?

A. AutoML, short for Automated Machine Learning, streamlines the model development process by automating various stages, including importing essential libraries like numpy and pandas, initializing diverse algorithms such as SVM and DecisionTreeClassifier, and implementing techniques like logistic regression. Through sample weights and optimization, AutoML fine-tunes model parameters to enhance performance on datasets. Leveraging majority vote, AutoML combines predictions from multiple models for improved accuracy. Additionally, AutoML facilitates seamless integration with GitHub repositories and offers tutorials for beginners to swiftly navigate its functionalities, making it a comprehensive solution for automating machine learning workflows, particularly evident in tasks like implementing AdaBoost and evaluating models on x_test data.

AdaBoostensemble modeling
Shipra Saxena
Shipra Saxena

Shipra is a Data Science enthusiast, Exploring Machine learning and Deep learning algorithms. She is also interested in Big data technologies. She believes learning is a continuous process so keep moving.

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Guide on AdaBoost Algorithm
Guide on AdaBoost Algorithm
Introduction to Boosting Algorithms in Machine Learning
Introduction to Boosting Algorithms in Machine Learning

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