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Concept
Mean absolute error
Summary
In statistics, mean absolute error (MAE) is a measure of errors between paired observations expressing the same phenomenon. Examples of Y versus X include comparisons of predicted versus observed, subsequent time versus initial time, and one technique of measurement versus an alternative technique of measurement. MAE is calculated as the sum of absolute errors divided by the sample size:
It is thus an arithmetic average of the absolute errors , where is the prediction and the true value. Alternative formulations may include relative frequencies as weight factors. The mean absolute error uses the same scale as the data being measured. This is known as a scale-dependent accuracy measure and therefore cannot be used to make comparisons between predicted values that use different scales. The mean absolute error is a common measure of forecast error in time series analysis, sometimes used in confusion with the more standard definition of mean absolute deviation. The same confusion exists more generally.
It is possible to express MAE as the sum of two components: Quantity Disagreement and Allocation Disagreement. Quantity Disagreement is the absolute value of the Mean Error given by:
Allocation Disagreement is MAE minus Quantity Disagreement.
It is also possible to identify the types of difference by looking at an plot. Quantity difference exists when the average of the X values does not equal the average of the Y values. Allocation difference exists if and only if points reside on both sides of the identity line.
The mean absolute error is one of a number of ways of comparing forecasts with their eventual outcomes. Well-established alternatives are the mean absolute scaled error (MASE) and the mean squared error. These all summarize performance in ways that disregard the direction of over- or under- prediction; a measure that does place emphasis on this is the mean signed difference.
Where a prediction model is to be fitted using a selected performance measure, in the sense that the least squares approach is related to the mean squared error, the equivalent for mean absolute error is least absolute deviations.
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