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AI & Machine Learning · Foundational

Feature

An individual measurable input variable that a model uses to make predictions.

Definition

Features (also called attributes, predictors or independent variables) are the columns of a training dataset other than the target. They may be numeric, categorical, text or derived values. Good features are relevant to the target, available at prediction time, and free of leakage.

Example

In a churn model, monthly_spend, tenure_months and support_tickets are features.

Exam tip

A feature that is not available at inference time causes leakage and inflated validation scores.

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