Optimised Feature Subset Selection via Simulated Annealing

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Martínez-García, Fernando, Rubio-García, Álvaro, Fernández-Lorenzo, Samuel, García-Ripoll, Juan José, Porras, Diego
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Martínez-García, Fernando
Rubio-García, Álvaro
Fernández-Lorenzo, Samuel
García-Ripoll, Juan José
Porras, Diego
author_facet Martínez-García, Fernando
Rubio-García, Álvaro
Fernández-Lorenzo, Samuel
García-Ripoll, Juan José
Porras, Diego
contents We introduce SA-FDR, a novel algorithm for $\ell_0$-norm feature selection that considers this task as a combinatorial optimisation problem and solves it by using simulated annealing to perform a global search over the space of feature subsets. The optimisation is guided by the Fisher discriminant ratio, which we use as a computationally efficient proxy for model quality in classification tasks. Our experiments, conducted on datasets with up to hundreds of thousands of samples and hundreds of features, demonstrate that SA-FDR consistently selects more compact feature subsets while achieving a high predictive accuracy. This ability to recover informative yet minimal sets of features stems from its capacity to capture inter-feature dependencies often missed by greedy optimisation approaches. As a result, SA-FDR provides a flexible and effective solution for designing interpretable models in high-dimensional settings, particularly when model sparsity, interpretability, and performance are crucial.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_23568
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Optimised Feature Subset Selection via Simulated Annealing
Martínez-García, Fernando
Rubio-García, Álvaro
Fernández-Lorenzo, Samuel
García-Ripoll, Juan José
Porras, Diego
Machine Learning
Statistical Mechanics
We introduce SA-FDR, a novel algorithm for $\ell_0$-norm feature selection that considers this task as a combinatorial optimisation problem and solves it by using simulated annealing to perform a global search over the space of feature subsets. The optimisation is guided by the Fisher discriminant ratio, which we use as a computationally efficient proxy for model quality in classification tasks. Our experiments, conducted on datasets with up to hundreds of thousands of samples and hundreds of features, demonstrate that SA-FDR consistently selects more compact feature subsets while achieving a high predictive accuracy. This ability to recover informative yet minimal sets of features stems from its capacity to capture inter-feature dependencies often missed by greedy optimisation approaches. As a result, SA-FDR provides a flexible and effective solution for designing interpretable models in high-dimensional settings, particularly when model sparsity, interpretability, and performance are crucial.
title Optimised Feature Subset Selection via Simulated Annealing
topic Machine Learning
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.23568