Simple accord.net machine learning example
I’m new to machine learning and new to accord.net (I code C#).
I want to create a simple project where I look at a simple time series of data that oscillate, then I want accord.net to learn it and predict what the next value will be.
This is what the data (time series) should look like:
X - Y
1 - 1
2 - 2
3 - 3
4 - 2
5 - 1
6 - 2
7 - 3
8 - 2
9 - 1
Then I want it to predict the following:
X - Y
10 - 2
11 - 3
12 - 2
13 - 1
14 - 2
15 - 3
Can you guys help me out with some examples on how to solve it?
Answer
A simple way to do this would be to use an Accord ID3 decision tree.
The trick is to work out what inputs to use - you can't just train on X - the tree won't learn anything about future values of X from that - however you can build some features derived from X (or previous values of Y) that will be useful.
Normally for problems like this - you would make each prediction based on features derived from previous values of Y (the thing being predicted) rather than X. However that assumes you can observe Y sequentially between each prediction (you can't then predict for any arbitary X) so I'll stick with the question as presented.
I had a go at building an Accord ID3 decision tree to solve this problem below. I used a few different values of x % n as the features - hoping the tree could work out the answer from this. In fact if I'd added (x-1) % 4 as a feature it could do it in a single level with just that attribute - but I guess the point is more to let the tree find the patterns.
And here is the code for that :
// this is the sequence y follows
int[] ysequence = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 2 };
// this generates the correct Y for a given X
int CalcY(int x) => ysequence[(x - 1) % 4];
// this generates some inputs - just a few differnt mod of x
int[] CalcInputs(int x) => new int[] { x % 2, x % 3, x % 4, x % 5, x % 6 };
// for http://stackoverflow.com/questions/40573388/simple-accord-net-machine-learning-example
[TestMethod]
public void AccordID3TestStackOverFlowQuestion2()
{
// build the training data set
int numtrainingcases = 12;
int[][] inputs = new int[numtrainingcases][];
int[] outputs = new int[numtrainingcases];
Console.WriteLine("\t\t\t\t x \t y");
for (int x = 1; x <= numtrainingcases; x++)
{
int y = CalcY(x);
inputs[x-1] = CalcInputs(x);
outputs[x-1] = y;
Console.WriteLine("TrainingData \t " +x+"\t "+y);
}
// define how many values each input can have
DecisionVariable[] attributes =
{
new DecisionVariable("Mod2",2),
new DecisionVariable("Mod3",3),
new DecisionVariable("Mod4",4),
new DecisionVariable("Mod5",5),
new DecisionVariable("Mod6",6)
};
// define how many outputs (+1 only because y doesn't use zero)
int classCount = outputs.Max()+1;
// create the tree
DecisionTree tree = new DecisionTree(attributes, classCount);
// Create a new instance of the ID3 algorithm
ID3Learning id3learning = new ID3Learning(tree);
// Learn the training instances! Populates the tree
id3learning.Learn(inputs, outputs);
Console.WriteLine();
// now try to predict some cases that werent in the training data
for (int x = numtrainingcases+1; x <= 2* numtrainingcases; x++)
{
int[] query = CalcInputs(x);
int answer = tree.Decide(query); // makes the prediction
Assert.AreEqual(CalcY(x), answer); // check the answer is what we expected - ie the tree got it right
Console.WriteLine("Prediction \t\t " + x+"\t "+answer);
}
}
This is the output it produces :
x y
TrainingData 1 1
TrainingData 2 2
TrainingData 3 3
TrainingData 4 2
TrainingData 5 1
TrainingData 6 2
TrainingData 7 3
TrainingData 8 2
TrainingData 9 1
TrainingData 10 2
TrainingData 11 3
TrainingData 12 2
Prediction 13 1
Prediction 14 2
Prediction 15 3
Prediction 16 2
Prediction 17 1
Prediction 18 2
Prediction 19 3
Prediction 20 2
Prediction 21 1
Prediction 22 2
Prediction 23 3
Prediction 24 2
Hope that helps.
EDIT : Following comments, below the example is modified to train on previous values of the target (Y) - rather than features derived from the time index (X). This means you can't start training at the start of your series - as you need a back history of previous values of Y. In this example I started at x=9 just because that keeps the same sequence.
// this is the sequence y follows
int[] ysequence = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 2 };
// this generates the correct Y for a given X
int CalcY(int x) => ysequence[(x - 1) % 4];
// this generates some inputs - just a few differnt mod of x
int[] CalcInputs(int x) => new int[] { CalcY(x-1), CalcY(x-2), CalcY(x-3), CalcY(x-4), CalcY(x - 5) };
//int[] CalcInputs(int x) => new int[] { x % 2, x % 3, x % 4, x % 5, x % 6 };
// for http://stackoverflow.com/questions/40573388/simple-accord-net-machine-learning-example
[TestMethod]
public void AccordID3TestTestStackOverFlowQuestion2()
{
// build the training data set
int numtrainingcases = 12;
int starttrainingat = 9;
int[][] inputs = new int[numtrainingcases][];
int[] outputs = new int[numtrainingcases];
Console.WriteLine("\t\t\t\t x \t y");
for (int x = starttrainingat; x < numtrainingcases + starttrainingat; x++)
{
int y = CalcY(x);
inputs[x- starttrainingat] = CalcInputs(x);
outputs[x- starttrainingat] = y;
Console.WriteLine("TrainingData \t " +x+"\t "+y);
}
// define how many values each input can have
DecisionVariable[] attributes =
{
new DecisionVariable("y-1",4),
new DecisionVariable("y-2",4),
new DecisionVariable("y-3",4),
new DecisionVariable("y-4",4),
new DecisionVariable("y-5",4)
};
// define how many outputs (+1 only because y doesn't use zero)
int classCount = outputs.Max()+1;
// create the tree
DecisionTree tree = new DecisionTree(attributes, classCount);
// Create a new instance of the ID3 algorithm
ID3Learning id3learning = new ID3Learning(tree);
// Learn the training instances! Populates the tree
id3learning.Learn(inputs, outputs);
Console.WriteLine();
// now try to predict some cases that werent in the training data
for (int x = starttrainingat+numtrainingcases; x <= starttrainingat + 2 * numtrainingcases; x++)
{
int[] query = CalcInputs(x);
int answer = tree.Decide(query); // makes the prediction
Assert.AreEqual(CalcY(x), answer); // check the answer is what we expected - ie the tree got it right
Console.WriteLine("Prediction \t\t " + x+"\t "+answer);
}
}
You could also consider training on the differences between previous values of Y - which would work better where the absolute value of Y is not as important as the relative change.