Explain what a false positive and a false negative are. Why is it important to differentiate these from each other?

Data Science Interview QuestionsCategory: Data ScienceExplain what a false positive and a false negative are. Why is it important to differentiate these from each other?
2 Answers
MockInterview Staff answered 7 years ago
  • False positive
    Improperly reporting the presence of a condition when it’s not in reality. Example: HIV positive test when the patient is actually HIV negative
  • False negative
    Improperly reporting the absence of a condition when in reality it’s the case. Example: not detecting a disease when the patient has this disease.

When false positives are more important than false negatives:
– In a non-contagious disease, where treatment delay doesn’t have any long-term consequences but the treatment itself is grueling
– HIV test: psychological impact
When false negatives are more important than false positives:
– If early treatment is important for good outcomes
– In quality control: a defective item passes through the cracks!
– Software testing: a test to catch a virus has failed
SOURCE

MockInterview Staff answered 6 years ago

If you want to visually remember the definitions of precision and recall, check out this quora answer by Jason T Widjaja: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-way-to-understand-the-terms-precision-and-recall/answer/Jason-T-Widjaja?srid=uWIN

precision and recall

precision and recall

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