best-subset method

noun

UK /bɛst ˈsʌbsɛt ˈmɛθəd/

US /bɛst ˈsʌbsɛt ˈmɛθəd/

A way to pick the best small group of things from a bigger group.

The teacher used the best-subset method to choose the five best drawings for the wall.

SYNONYMS

optimal subset selection best subset selection exhaustive search method all-possible-subsets approach

RELATED WORDS

regression model selection variable selection statistics optimization

OTHER MEANINGS

2. In statistics, a regression technique that tries every possible combination of predictor variables to find the model with the best fit.

The analyst compared the best-subset method with stepwise selection before finalizing the model.

3. A general problem-solving approach that checks every possible smaller group to find the one that works best.

For the small dataset, the best-subset method was fast enough to test every combination.

4. A selection strategy in machine learning that evaluates all feature subsets to minimize prediction error.

Because there were only ten features, the team used the best-subset method to choose the final inputs.