Category: support vector machines

In this example, we will compare 4 types of regression on the benchmark dataset BostonHousing in package “mlbench”. Specifically, we will compare linear regression, regression tree regression, support vector machine regression using default parameters, and support vector machine regression using tuned parameters. The predictive power will be computed using the PRESS metric, described in previous posts. Here is the code:

>library(mlbench)

>library(e1071)

>data(BostonHousing)

>c1<-c(1:506) . Note that 506 is the number of rows in BostonHousing (nrow(BostonHousing)).

BostonHousingmod<-cbind(BostonHousing,c1).

NOTE: The introduction of the c1 variable is purely for the computation of the PRESS statistic as shown below.

LINEAR REGRESSION CODE AND COMPUTATION OF PRESS METRIC

> difflm<-numeric(506)
> for(i in 1: 506) {model1m<-lm(medv~crim+zn+indus+chas+nox+rm+age+dis+rad+tax+ptratio+b+lstat,subset=(c1!=i), data=BostonHousingmod)
+ newData<-data.frame(BostonHousingmod[i,-14,-15])
+ specpr<-predict(model1m,newData)
+ difflm[i]<-BostonHousingmod[i,14]-specpr
+ }
> summ1=0
> for(i in 1:506) {summ1=summ1+difflm[i]^2}
> summ1
[1] 12005.23

So the PRESS metric is 12005.23.

SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE REGRESSION USING DEFAULT PARAMETERS
> diffsvm<-numeric(506)
> for(i in 1: 506) {modelsvm<-svm(medv~crim+zn+indus+chas+nox+rm+age+dis+rad+tax+ptratio+b+lstat,subset=(c1!=i), data=BostonHousingmod)
+ newData<-data.frame(BostonHousingmod[i,-14,-15])
+ specpr<-predict(modelsvm,newData)
+ diffsvm[i]<-BostonHousingmod[i,14]-specpr
+ }
>
> summ2=0
> for(i in 1:506) {summ2=summ2+diffsvm[i]^2}
> summ2
[1] 6436.89

So the PRESS metric here is 6436.89.

REGRESSION TREE CODE AND COMPUTATION OF PRESS
> diffrpart<-numeric(506)
> for(i in 1: 506) {modelrpart<-rpart(medv~crim+zn+indus+chas+nox+rm+age+dis+rad+tax+ptratio+b+lstat,subset=(c1!=i), data=BostonHousingmod)
+ newData<-data.frame(BostonHousingmod[i,-14,-15])
+ specpr<-predict(modelrpart,newData)
+ diffrpart[i]<-BostonHousingmod[i,14]-specpr
+ }
> summ3=0
> for(i in 1:506) {summ3=summ3+diffrpart[i]^2}
> summ3
[1] 11452.59

So, the PRESS metric here is 11452.59.

CODE FOR THE TUNING OF THE SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE REGRESSION PARAMETERS

difftune<-numeric(506)
> cc<-seq(0.1,0.9,by=0.1)
> cc2<-seq(100,1000,by=100)
> modeltune<-tune.svm(medv~crim+zn+indus+chas+nox+rm+age+dis+rad+tax+ptratio+b+lstat,gamma=cc,cost=cc2, data=BostonHousingmod)
> modeltune

Parameter tuning of ‘svm’:

– sampling method: 10-fold cross validation

– best parameters:
gamma cost
0.1 100

– best performance: 10.65047

CODE FOR THE SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE REGRESSION USING TUNED PARAMETERS AND COMPUTATION OF THE PRESS METRIC

> for(i in 1: 506) {finalmodel<-svm(medv~crim+zn+indus+chas+nox+rm+age+dis+rad+tax+ptratio+b+lstat,gamma=0.1,cost=100,subset=(c1!=i), data=BostonHousingmod)
+ newData<-data.frame(BostonHousingmod[i,-14,-15])
+ specpr<-predict(finalmodel,newData)
+ difftune[i]<-BostonHousingmod[i,14]-specpr
+ }
> sumnew=0
> for(i in 1:506) {sumnew=sumnew+difftune[i]^2}
> sumnew
[1] 5627.534

SO, the tuned support machine regression has the BEST (SMALLEST) PRESS metric with value 5627.534. Therefore, for this example, the tuned support vector machine regression has shown the best predictive power.

By the way, this is what the finalmodel contains:
> finalmodel

Call:
svm(formula = medv ~ crim + zn + indus + chas + nox + rm + age + dis + rad + tax + ptratio +
b + lstat, data = BostonHousingmod, gamma = 0.1, cost = 100, subset = (c1 != i))
Parameters:
SVM-Type: eps-regression
SVM-Kernel: radial
cost: 100
gamma: 0.1
epsilon: 0.1
Number of Support Vectors: 329