LogisticRegression: Unknown label type: ‘continuous’ using sklearn in python

I have the following code to test some of most popular ML algorithms of sklearn python library:

import numpy as np
from sklearn                        import metrics, svm
from sklearn.linear_model           import LinearRegression
from sklearn.linear_model           import LogisticRegression
from sklearn.tree                   import DecisionTreeClassifier
from sklearn.neighbors              import KNeighborsClassifier
from sklearn.discriminant_analysis  import LinearDiscriminantAnalysis
from sklearn.naive_bayes            import GaussianNB
from sklearn.svm                    import SVC

trainingData    = np.array([ [2.3, 4.3, 2.5],  [1.3, 5.2, 5.2],  [3.3, 2.9, 0.8],  [3.1, 4.3, 4.0]  ])
trainingScores  = np.array( [3.4, 7.5, 4.5, 1.6] )
predictionData  = np.array([ [2.5, 2.4, 2.7],  [2.7, 3.2, 1.2] ])

clf = LinearRegression()
clf.fit(trainingData, trainingScores)
print("LinearRegression")
print(clf.predict(predictionData))

clf = svm.SVR()
clf.fit(trainingData, trainingScores)
print("SVR")
print(clf.predict(predictionData))

clf = LogisticRegression()
clf.fit(trainingData, trainingScores)
print("LogisticRegression")
print(clf.predict(predictionData))

clf = DecisionTreeClassifier()
clf.fit(trainingData, trainingScores)
print("DecisionTreeClassifier")
print(clf.predict(predictionData))

clf = KNeighborsClassifier()
clf.fit(trainingData, trainingScores)
print("KNeighborsClassifier")
print(clf.predict(predictionData))

clf = LinearDiscriminantAnalysis()
clf.fit(trainingData, trainingScores)
print("LinearDiscriminantAnalysis")
print(clf.predict(predictionData))

clf = GaussianNB()
clf.fit(trainingData, trainingScores)
print("GaussianNB")
print(clf.predict(predictionData))

clf = SVC()
clf.fit(trainingData, trainingScores)
print("SVC")
print(clf.predict(predictionData))

The first two works ok, but I got the following error in LogisticRegression call:

<a href="https://getridbug.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e5978a8a91a59087909586d4">[email protected]</a>:/home/ouhma# python stack.py 
LinearRegression
[ 15.72023529   6.46666667]
SVR
[ 3.95570063  4.23426243]
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "stack.py", line 28, in <module>
    clf.fit(trainingData, trainingScores)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/sklearn/linear_model/logistic.py", line 1174, in fit
    check_classification_targets(y)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/sklearn/utils/multiclass.py", line 172, in check_classification_targets
    raise ValueError("Unknown label type: %r" % y_type)
ValueError: Unknown label type: 'continuous'

The input data is the same as in the previous calls, so what is going on here?

And by the way, why there is a huge diference in the first prediction of LinearRegression() and SVR() algorithms (15.72 vs 3.95)?

Answers:

Thank you for visiting the Q&A section on Magenaut. Please note that all the answers may not help you solve the issue immediately. So please treat them as advisements. If you found the post helpful (or not), leave a comment & I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Method 1

You are passing floats to a classifier which expects categorical values as the target vector. If you convert it to int it will be accepted as input (although it will be questionable if that’s the right way to do it).

It would be better to convert your training scores by using scikit’s labelEncoder function.

The same is true for your DecisionTree and KNeighbors qualifier.

from sklearn import preprocessing
from sklearn import utils

lab_enc = preprocessing.LabelEncoder()
encoded = lab_enc.fit_transform(trainingScores)
>>> array([1, 3, 2, 0], dtype=int64)

print(utils.multiclass.type_of_target(trainingScores))
>>> continuous

print(utils.multiclass.type_of_target(trainingScores.astype('int')))
>>> multiclass

print(utils.multiclass.type_of_target(encoded))
>>> multiclass

Method 2

LogisticRegression is not for regression but classification !

The Y variable must be the classification class,

(for example 0 or 1)

And not a continuous variable,

that would be a regression problem.

Method 3

I struggled with the same issue when trying to feed floats to the classifiers. I wanted to keep floats and not integers for accuracy. Try using regressor algorithms. For example:

import numpy as np
from sklearn import linear_model
from sklearn import svm

classifiers = [
    svm.SVR(),
    linear_model.SGDRegressor(),
    linear_model.BayesianRidge(),
    linear_model.LassoLars(),
    linear_model.ARDRegression(),
    linear_model.PassiveAggressiveRegressor(),
    linear_model.TheilSenRegressor(),
    linear_model.LinearRegression()]

trainingData    = np.array([ [2.3, 4.3, 2.5],  [1.3, 5.2, 5.2],  [3.3, 2.9, 0.8],  [3.1, 4.3, 4.0]  ])
trainingScores  = np.array( [3.4, 7.5, 4.5, 1.6] )
predictionData  = np.array([ [2.5, 2.4, 2.7],  [2.7, 3.2, 1.2] ])

for item in classifiers:
    print(item)
    clf = item
    clf.fit(trainingData, trainingScores)
    print(clf.predict(predictionData),'n')

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0