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

• featureA piece of functionality that users can see or use, such as a search bar, dark mode or the option to export a report.
• training dataThe examples a model learns from during training. Their quality, size and variety largely decide how well the model works on new data.
• variableA name in a program that stores a value, such as a number, text or list, so that the code can use or change that value later.
• classificationA task in which a model puts each input into one of a fixed set of categories, for example deciding whether an email is spam or which product category a photo shows.

This word in other fields

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

• target variable · Data Science & Analytics

More terms: Machine Learning and Data Processing

• artificial intelligence
• machine learning
• model
• dataset
• label
• train
• supervised learning
• neural network
• deep learning
• loss function
• overfitting
• test set