What Is Data Binning?

Data Binning, Bucketing, or Discretization is a data smoothing and pre-

processing method to group original continuous data into small, discrete
bins, intervals, or categories. Each bin is considered separate so that a
general value representing the whole bin can be calculated.

Data binning is a way of pre-processing, summarizing, and

analyzing data used to group continuous data into discrete bins or
categories. It offers several benefits, such as simplifying data
analysis and mitigating the impact of outliers in datasets. The
process involves dividing the range of values into intervals and
assigning each data point to an appropriate bin.

The number and size of bins depend on the discretization technique

adopted. It can be determined based on data distribution and
specific analysis requirements. However, some techniques call for a
fixed number of bins. For instance, the number of bins in percentile
binning is 4. Moreover, it is crucial to consider the trade-off
between data simplification and the potential loss of details when
making a decision about employing binning for analysis.
 Techniques
Listed below are some prominent methods of data binning
employed by analysts.

 Equal-Width Binning: This technique divides the data range into

predetermined equal-width intervals or bins. The bin width can be
computed by dividing the data range by the selected number of
bins. While this method is simple and intuitive, it cannot be applied
for skewed data distribution.

 Equal-Frequency Binning: In this method, the data is distributed

into bins ensuring each bin has roughly the same number of data
points. The data is first sorted, and then an equal number of data
points is assigned to each bin. This approach is useful when it is
essential to maintain similar frequencies or distributions across bins.
This binning method can effectively tackle outliers
and skewed data.

 Entropy-Based Binning: Under this type of discretization,

continuous numerical values are categorized such that the clubbed
variables represent the same class label. It analyzes the target class
label and computes entropy, i.e., data impurities, and categorizes
the split based on the level of information gain achievable.

 Custom Binning: This method allows users to set bin boundaries

based on specific criteria or domain knowledge. Custom binning
offers greater flexibility and control over data grouping. For
example, bins can be created based on specific value ranges or
required categories.

 Quantile Binning: A percentile binning technique applies to equal

data distribution. It divides the data into bins based on percentiles.
Thus, the number of bins is predetermined, and each bin comprises
 an equal number of data points. The bin boundaries are ascertained
by the values at specific percentiles (e.g., 25th, 50th, and 75th
percentiles).

 Optimal Binning: This bucketing technique aims to identify the

most suitable set of bin boundaries based on specific optimization
criteria. These methods employ statistical or machine learning
algorithms to determine bin boundaries that minimize information
loss or maximize desired objectives. For instance, it determines bin
boundaries based on a decision tree, chi-square, and Maximum
Likelihood Estimation (MLE).
 Here is a comparison table of star and snowflake schemas:

Snowflake Schema Star Schema

Consists of a centralized fact table connected to multiple- Consists of a centralized fact table connected to
Structure
dimension tables in a hierarchical manner dimension tables in a star-like structure

Normalization Highly normalized design Partially denormalized design

Query Performance Excellent for complex queries and aggregations Better for simple queries and aggregations

Storage Efficiency Highly efficient for storing data Less efficient due to denormalization

Scalability Highly scalable due to the separation of data Limited scalability due to denormalization

Data Integrity Ensures high data integrity Lower data integrity due to denormalization

Complexity More complex to design and maintain Simpler to design and maintain

Flexibility More flexible for changes in the data model Less flexible for changes in the data model

Usage Suitable for large, complex data warehouses Suitable for small to medium-sized data warehouses

Storage Overhead Requires less storage space Requires more storage space

Data preprocessing steps Involved

What is data preprocessing?

Data preprocessing, a component of data preparation, describes any type

of processing performed on raw data to prepare it for another data
processing procedure. It has traditionally been an important preliminary
step for the data mining process. More recently, data preprocessing
techniques have been adapted for training machine learning models and AI
models and for running inferences against them.

Data preprocessing transforms the data into a format that is more easily
and effectively processed in data mining, machine learning and other data
science tasks. The techniques are generally used at the earliest stages of
the machine learning and AI development pipeline to ensure accurate
results.

What are the key steps in data preprocessing?

The steps used in data preprocessing include the following:

1. Data profiling. Data profiling is the process of examining, analyzing and

reviewing data to collect statistics about its quality. It starts with a survey of
existing data and its characteristics. Data scientists identify data sets that
are pertinent to the problem at hand, inventory its significant attributes, and
form a hypothesis of features that might be relevant for the proposed
analytics or machine learning task. They also relate data sources to the
relevant business concepts and consider which preprocessing libraries
could be used.

2. Data cleansing. The aim here is to find the easiest way to rectify quality
issues, such as eliminating bad data, filling in missing data or otherwise
ensuring the raw data is suitable for feature engineering.

3. Data reduction. Raw data sets often include redundant data that arise
from characterizing phenomena in different ways or data that is not relevant
to a particular ML, AI or analytics task. Data reduction uses techniques like
principal component analysis to transform the raw data into a simpler form
suitable for particular use cases.

4. Data transformation. Here, data scientists think about how different

aspects of the data need to be organized to make the most sense for the
goal. This could include things like structuring unstructured data, combining
salient variables when it makes sense or identifying important ranges to
focus on.

5. Data enrichment. In this step, data scientists apply the various feature
engineering libraries to the data to effect the desired transformations. The
result should be a data set organized to achieve the optimal balance
between the training time for a new model and the required compute.

6. Data validation. At this stage, the data is split into two sets. The first set
is used to train a machine learning or deep learning model. The second set
is the testing data that is used to gauge the accuracy and robustness of the
resulting model. This second step helps identify any problems in
the hypothesis used in the cleaning and feature engineering of the data. If
the data scientists are satisfied with the results, they can push the
preprocessing task to a data engineer who figures out how to scale it for
production. If not, the data scientists can go back and make changes to the
way they implemented the data cleansing and feature engineering steps.
Data cleaning is the process of preparing raw data for analysis by
removing bad data, organizing the raw data, and filling in the null
values. Ultimately, cleaning data prepares the data for the process
of data mining when the most valuable information can be pulled
from the data set.
Data Cleaning Characteristics

Some key characteristics of data cleaning are -

 Iterative process - Data cleaning in data mining is an iterative process that involves multiple
iterations of identifying, assessing, and addressing data quality issues. It is often an ongoing
activity throughout the data mining process, as new insights and patterns may prompt the need
for further data cleaning.
 Time-consuming - Data cleaning in data mining can be a time-consuming task, especially when
dealing with large and complex datasets. It requires careful examination of the data, identifying
errors or inconsistencies, and implementing appropriate corrections or treatments. The time
required for data cleaning can vary based on the complexity of the dataset and the extent of the
data quality issues.
 Domain expertise - Data cleaning in data mining often requires domain expertise, as
understanding the context and characteristics of the data is crucial for effective cleaning. Domain
experts possess the necessary knowledge about the data and can make informed decisions about
handling missing values, outliers, or inconsistencies based on their understanding of the subject
matter.
 Impact on analysis - Data cleaning in data mining directly impacts the quality and reliability of
the analysis and results obtained from data mining. Neglecting data cleaning can lead to biased
or inaccurate outcomes, misleading patterns, and unreliable insights. By performing thorough
data cleaning, analysts can ensure that the data used for analysis is accurate, consistent, and
representative of the real-world scenario.
Mape metric

Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) Expresses accuracy as a

percentage of the error. Because this number is a percentage, it can
be easier to understand than the other statistics.