Data transformation and discretization are crucial in the data preprocessing pipeline, converting raw data into suitable forms for analysis and improving the accuracy of mining algorithms.
Data transformation strategies include smoothing, attribute construction, aggregation, normalization, and discretization.
Normalization scales data attributes to specific ranges, enhancing the performance of distance-based mining algorithms.
Techniques like Min-Max Normalization, Z-Score Normalization, and Decimal Scaling Normalization are commonly used for normalization.
Discretization replaces numeric values with intervals or labels to simplify data and aid in pattern recognition.
Binning, histogram analysis, and concept hierarchy generation are key techniques in discretization to organize data into groups or intervals.
Clusters, decision trees, and correlation analyses assist in discretization by grouping similar values, splitting attributes into intervals, and merging intervals with similar distributions.
Concept hierarchies generalize nominal attributes to higher-level concepts like street to city to country, aiding in data understanding.
Practical applications include customer segmentation, market basket analysis, and fraud detection using data transformation and discretization techniques.
Data transformation and discretization are fundamental for enhancing data quality, mining efficiency, and deriving valuable insights from raw data.