Hybrid Feature Selection Using Genetic Algorithm and Information Theory

Abstract

In pattern classification, feature selection is an important factor in the performance of classifiers. In particular, when classifying a large number of features or variables, the accuracy and computational time of the classifier can be improved by using the relevant feature subset to remove the irrelevant, redundant, or noisy data. The proposed method consists of two parts: a wrapper part with an improved genetic algorithm(GA) using a new reproduction method and a filter part using mutual information. We also considered feature selection methods based on mutual information(MI) to improve computational complexity. Experimental results show that this method can achieve better performance in pattern recognition problems than other conventional solutions.