Evaluation of Classifiers

Abstract

The actual merit of a classification method can only be judged in connection with practical problems. This merit not only depends on the classification method and problem but also on non-objective criteria like the demands and knowledges of the user. The basis of a first implementation of a classification method, however, has to consist of objective mathematically defined criteria which characterize the efficiency of a classifier. The efficiency of a classifier is usually estimated by an application to a random sample of known patterns (prediction set) which have not been used for the training. An alternative method is the leave-one-out method (Chapter 1.4 [292]).