On sparse optimal regression trees

In this paper, we model an optimal regression tree through a continuous optimization problem, where a compromise between prediction accuracy and both types of sparsity, namely local and global, is sought. Our approach can accommodate important desirable properties for the regression task, such as co...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Blanquero Bravo, Rafael, Carrizosa Priego, Emilio José, Molero del Río, María Cristina, Romero Morales, María Dolores
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/131003
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/131003
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2021.12.022
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Machine learning
Classification and regression trees
Optimal regression trees
Sparsity
Nonlinear programming
Descripción
Sumario:In this paper, we model an optimal regression tree through a continuous optimization problem, where a compromise between prediction accuracy and both types of sparsity, namely local and global, is sought. Our approach can accommodate important desirable properties for the regression task, such as cost-sensitivity and fairness. Thanks to the smoothness of the predictions, we can derive local explanations on the continuous predictor variables. The computational experience reported shows the outperformance of our approach in terms of prediction accuracy against standard benchmark regression methods such as CART, OLS and LASSO. Moreover, the scalability of our approach with respect to the size of the training sample is illustrated.