Target variable

How it is used

Often just called 'the target' and written y in formulas and code. You define, predict or encode the target variable. Defining it precisely, such as 'churn within 30 days', is one of the most important decisions in a project.

Example sentences

1. Our target variable is whether the customer cancels within 30 days of renewal.

2. Make sure no feature is calculated from the target variable itself.

Common collocations

• define the target variable
• binary target variable
• predict the target
• target leakage

Related terms

• featureIn modelling, one of the input variables a model uses to make predictions, such as a customer's age, number of purchases or days since last login.
• training dataThe examples, with known inputs and usually known answers, that a model learns from; they are kept separate from the data used to test the model.
• variableA characteristic that can take different values from one case to another, such as age, city or price; in a table it is usually one column.
• classificationA type of modelling task in which the model predicts which category something belongs to, such as spam or not spam, or which product a review is about.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• target variable · Software Engineering

More terms: Modelling and Machine Learning

• model
• overfitting
• regression
• accuracy
• precision
• recall
• cross-validation
• baseline
• feature engineering
• test set
• clustering