I recently had the opportunity to delve into the world of machine learning and explore a simple yet effective algorithm known as k-nearest neighbors (KNN). This versatile tool can be employed for both classification and regression problems, making it a valuable addition to any data scientist's toolkit.
To illustrate the KNN algorithm, let's consider a two-dimensional example where we aim to classify a given point into one of three distinct groups. To identify the k nearest neighbors of the given point, we must first calculate the distance between the point and all other points. While there are several distance functions available, the Euclidean distance is the most commonly used. Once we have calculated the distances, we can then sort the nearest neighbors in ascending order based on their distances.
In the case of classification problems, the given point is assigned to the class that is most common among its k nearest neighbors. The value of k plays a crucial role in balancing overfitting and underfitting. A smaller k value typically results in low bias but high variance, while a larger k value leads to high bias but low variance. Finding the optimal balance between these two factors is essential.
For regression problems, the prediction is simply the average of the k nearest neighbors' labels.
To better understand the KNN algorithm, let's consider a simple code example using the famous iris dataset. We will use only the first two features for demonstration purposes. The KNN algorithm from scikit-learn is self-explanatory, and I encourage you to try it with different parameters.
The following plots are actual visualizations from the previous code example with different k settings. The left plot shows the classification decision boundary with k = 15, and the right plot is for k = 3.
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In conclusion, the KNN algorithm is a simple yet powerful machine learning tool that can be applied to a wide range of problems. Its versatility and ease of implementation make it an excellent choice for both classification and regression problems. With its ability to balance bias and variance, the KNN algorithm is an invaluable addition to any data scientist's toolkit.