Building an AdaBoost Classifier from Scratch in Python: Implementing an Ensemble Boosting Algorithm

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AdaBoost Classifier from Scratch in Python | Ensemble Boosting Algorithm

AdaBoost Classifier from Scratch in Python

AdaBoost, short for Adaptive Boosting, is an ensemble boosting algorithm that combines multiple weak classifiers to create a strong classifier. In this article, we will explore how to implement the AdaBoost classifier from scratch in Python.

Understanding AdaBoost

AdaBoost works by training a series of weak classifiers on the same dataset. Each weak classifier focuses on the instances that were misclassified by the previous classifiers. The final prediction is a weighted sum of the predictions of all weak classifiers.

Implementing AdaBoost Classifier

Let’s start by importing the necessary libraries:

    
      import numpy as np
      from sklearn.tree import DecisionTreeClassifier
    
  

Next, we need to define a function to train the AdaBoost classifier:

    
      def adaBoost(X, y, num_classifiers):
          n_samples, _ = X.shape
          weights = np.full(n_samples, (1 / n_samples))
          classifiers = []

          for _ in range(num_classifiers):
              classifier = DecisionTreeClassifier(max_depth=1)
              classifier.fit(X, y, sample_weight=weights)

              predictions = classifier.predict(X)

              error = np.sum(weights * (predictions != y))

              alpha = 0.5 * np.log((1 - error) / error)

              weights *= np.exp(-alpha * y * predictions)
              weights /= np.sum(weights)

              classifiers.append((alpha, classifier))

          return classifiers
    
  

Conclusion

AdaBoost is a powerful ensemble boosting algorithm that can improve the performance of weak classifiers. By following the steps in this article, you can implement the AdaBoost classifier from scratch in Python and use it for your machine learning tasks.