Labeled Data

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What Does Labeled Data Mean?

Labeled data is a designation for pieces of data that have been tagged with one or more labels identifying certain properties or characteristics, or classifications or contained objects. Labels make that data specifically useful in certain types of machine learning known as supervised machine learning setups.

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Techopedia Explains Labeled Data

In supervised machine learning, labeled data acts as the orientation for data training and testing exercises. The supervised machine learning program may start out with a set of entirely labeled data, or it may use initial labeled data to work with additional unlabeled data.

Supervised machine learning works like this – the program looks at the labeled data and makes corresponding comparisons and analysis. For example, by plotting various labeled categories on a scatter graph, the machine learning program can help determine whether successive items fall into one category or another. The algorithms use the labeled data as fodder for decision-making paradigms. This is in contrast to a different type of machine learning called unsupervised machine learning where unlabeled data is used. In unsupervised machine learning, the machine learning program has to evaluate data without labels, according to its natural properties and characteristics.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.