Categorical Feature Encoding — Glossary

categorical_encoding

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Definition

How non-numeric feature columns are converted before modeling: Exclude drops them, Integer maps each level to a number (1, 2, 3…), One-hot expands each level into its own 0/1 column.

Examples

RANCH with values KINSELLA/VEGREVILLE becomes columns RANCH_KINSELLA, RANCH_VEGREVILLE under one-hot.