Description: An imbalanced dataset refers to a collection of data where instances of different classes are not evenly distributed. This means that some categories of data may have significantly more samples than others. For example, in a dataset that classifies images of animals, there may be thousands of images of dogs but only a few dozen images of cats. This imbalance can negatively affect the performance of machine learning models, as they tend to favor classes with more data, which can result in biased predictions. Key characteristics of an imbalanced dataset include variability in the number of instances per class, difficulty in generalizing from minority classes, and the need for special techniques to address the issue, such as oversampling, undersampling, or using algorithms that are robust to this type of imbalance. The relevance of this concept lies in its impact on the accuracy and effectiveness of machine learning models, especially in critical applications such as object detection, facial recognition, and medical data classification, where precision is paramount.
