Optimal Classification Trees for Continuous Feature Data Using Dynamic Programming with Branch-and-Bound

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Brita, Catalin E., van der Linden, Jacobus G. M., Demirović, Emir
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Brita, Catalin E.
van der Linden, Jacobus G. M.
Demirović, Emir
author_facet Brita, Catalin E.
van der Linden, Jacobus G. M.
Demirović, Emir
contents Computing an optimal classification tree that provably maximizes training performance within a given size limit, is NP-hard, and in practice, most state-of-the-art methods do not scale beyond computing optimal trees of depth three. Therefore, most methods rely on a coarse binarization of continuous features to maintain scalability. We propose a novel algorithm that optimizes trees directly on the continuous feature data using dynamic programming with branch-and-bound. We develop new pruning techniques that eliminate many sub-optimal splits in the search when similar to previously computed splits and we provide an efficient subroutine for computing optimal depth-two trees. Our experiments demonstrate that these techniques improve runtime by one or more orders of magnitude over state-of-the-art optimal methods and improve test accuracy by 5% over greedy heuristics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_07903
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Optimal Classification Trees for Continuous Feature Data Using Dynamic Programming with Branch-and-Bound
Brita, Catalin E.
van der Linden, Jacobus G. M.
Demirović, Emir
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Data Structures and Algorithms
Computing an optimal classification tree that provably maximizes training performance within a given size limit, is NP-hard, and in practice, most state-of-the-art methods do not scale beyond computing optimal trees of depth three. Therefore, most methods rely on a coarse binarization of continuous features to maintain scalability. We propose a novel algorithm that optimizes trees directly on the continuous feature data using dynamic programming with branch-and-bound. We develop new pruning techniques that eliminate many sub-optimal splits in the search when similar to previously computed splits and we provide an efficient subroutine for computing optimal depth-two trees. Our experiments demonstrate that these techniques improve runtime by one or more orders of magnitude over state-of-the-art optimal methods and improve test accuracy by 5% over greedy heuristics.
title Optimal Classification Trees for Continuous Feature Data Using Dynamic Programming with Branch-and-Bound
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Data Structures and Algorithms
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.07903