Method for feature selection and for evaluating features identified as significant for classifying data

Abstract

A group of features that has been identified as 'significant' in being able to separate data into classes is evaluated using a support vector machine which separates the dataset into classes one feature at a time. After separation, an extremal margin value is assigned to each feature based on the distance between the lowest feature value in the first class and the highest feature value in the second class. Separately, extremal margin values are calculated for a normal distribution within a large number of randomly drawn example sets for the two classes to determine the number of examples within the normal distribution that would have a specified extremal margin value. Using p-values calculated for the normal distribution, a desired p-value is selected. The specified extremal margin value corresponding to the selected p-value is compared to the calculated extremal margin values for the group of features. The features in the group that have a calculated extremal margin value less than the specified margin value are labeled as falsely significant.