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Machine Learning Fundamentals · Phase 2: Data Wrangling, Preprocessing & ML Workflow · Feature Engineering

Feature Engineering — Checkpoint Quiz

Checkpoint quiz 3 questions
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Check your understanding of this module before moving on.

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Checkpoint quiz 3 questions

A quick check on this module's key ideas before you move on
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Question 01

Why can engineering a single well-chosen feature, like a debt-to-income ratio, sometimes improve a model more than switching to a fancier algorithm?

B is correct. If the real signal is a ratio between two columns, a model given only the raw columns has to discover that relationship the hard way. Handing it the ratio directly is often a bigger lever than a more sophisticated algorithm.
Question 02

Why does one-hot encoding avoid assigning arbitrary integers like Red=1, Blue=2, Green=3 to categories?

B is correct. Assigning Green=3 implies it is "three times further" from Red than Blue is, which is meaningless for an unordered category. One-hot encoding avoids inventing that fake relationship.
Question 03

Why is median imputation often preferred over mean imputation for a skewed or outlier-prone column?

B is correct. The same robustness property from the statistics lesson applies here: one extreme value can drag a mean far from typical, but barely moves the median.