Characteristic

Definition

Characteristic (also Feature in Machine Learning context) is a general term denoting a variable or other concrete determinant that influences the Risk Profile of a system, entity, financial asset etc. It is used predominantly in development of statistical risk models

Characteristic versus Attribute

The terms are quite frequently used interchangeably. More careful language would reserve the term Attribute for the range of values of the Characteristic.

Example

The values: Owner, Renting, Parents are the attributes of the characteristic Residential Status

Issues and Challenges

• Non-monotonic behavior (Reversal)

See Also

• Explanatory Variables
• Categorical Variable
• Scorecard