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# LinearModel class

Superclasses: CompactLinearModel

Linear regression model class

## Description

An object comprising training data, model description, diagnostic information, and fitted coefficients for a linear regression. Predict model responses with the predict or feval methods.

## Construction

mdl = fitlm(tbl) or mdl = fitlm(X,y) create a linear model of a table or dataset array tbl, or of the responses y to a data matrix X. For details, see fitlm.

mdl = stepwiselm(tbl) or mdl = stepwiselm(X,y) create a linear model of a table or dataset array tbl, or of the responses y to a data matrix X, with unimportant predictors excluded. For details, see stepwiselm.

### Input Arguments

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Input data, specified as a table or dataset array. When modelspec is a formula, it specifies the variables to be used as the predictors and response. Otherwise, if you do not specify the predictor and response variables, the last variable is the response variable and the others are the predictor variables by default.

Predictor variables can be numeric, or any grouping variable type, such as logical or categorical (see Grouping Variables). The response must be numeric or logical.

To set a different column as the response variable, use the ResponseVar name-value pair argument. To use a subset of the columns as predictors, use the PredictorVars name-value pair argument.

Data Types: single | double | logical

Predictor variables, specified as an n-by-p matrix, where n is the number of observations and p is the number of predictor variables. Each column of X represents one variable, and each row represents one observation.

By default, there is a constant term in the model, unless you explicitly remove it, so do not include a column of 1s in X.

Data Types: single | double | logical

Response variable, specified as an n-by-1 vector, where n is the number of observations. Each entry in y is the response for the corresponding row of X.

Data Types: single | double

## Properties

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Covariance matrix of coefficient estimates, stored as a p-by-p matrix of numeric values. p is the number of coefficients in the fitted model.

Coefficient names, stored as a cell array of character vectors containing a label for each coefficient.

Coefficient values, stored as a table. Coefficients has one row for each coefficient and the following columns:

• Estimate — Estimated coefficient value

• SE — Standard error of the estimate

• tStatt statistic for a test that the coefficient is zero

• pValuep-value for the t statistic

To obtain any of these columns as a vector, index into the property using dot notation. For example, in mdl the estimated coefficient vector is

beta = mdl.Coefficients.Estimate

Use coefTest to perform other tests on the coefficients.

Degrees of freedom for error (residuals), equal to the number of observations minus the number of estimated coefficients, stored as a positive integer value.

Diagnostic values, stored as a table with the same number of rows as the input data (tbl or X). Diagnostics contains diagnostics helpful in finding outliers and influential observations. Many diagnostics describe the effect on the fit of deleting single observations. Diagnostics contains the following fields.

FieldMeaningUtility
LeverageDiagonal elements of HatMatrixLeverage indicates to what extent the predicted value for an observation is determined by the observed value for that observation. A value close to 1 indicates that the prediction is largely determined by that observation, with little contribution from the other observations. A value close to 0 indicates the fit is largely determined by the other observations. For a model with P coefficients and N observations, the average value of Leverage is P/N. An observation with Leverage larger than 2*P/N can be regarded as having high leverage.
CooksDistanceCook's measure of scaled change in fitted valuesCooksDistance is a measure of scaled change in fitted values. An observation with CooksDistance larger than three times the mean Cook's distance can be an outlier.
DffitsDelete-1 scaled differences in fitted values vs. observation numberDffits is the scaled change in the fitted values for each observation that would result from excluding that observation from the fit. Values with an absolute value larger than 2*sqrt(P/N) may be considered influential.
S2_iDelete-1 variance vs. observation numberS2_i is a set of residual variance estimates obtained by deleting each observation in turn. These can be compared with the value of the MSE property.
CovRatioDelete-1 ratio of determinant of covariance vs. observation numberCovRatio is the ratio of the determinant of the coefficient covariance matrix with each observation deleted in turn to the determinant of the covariance matrix for the full model. Values larger than 1+3*P/N or smaller than 1-3*P/N indicate influential points.
DfbetasDelete-1 scaled differences in covariance estimates vs. observation numberDfbetas is an N-by-P matrix of the scaled change in the coefficient estimates that would result from excluding each observation in turn. Values larger than 3/sqrt(N) in absolute value indicate that the observation has a large influence on the corresponding coefficient.
HatMatrixProjection matrix to compute fitted from observed responsesHatMatrix is an N-by-N matrix such that Fitted = HatMatrix*Y, where Y is the response vector and Fitted is the vector of fitted response values.

Rows not used in the fit because of missing values (in ObservationInfo.Missing) contain NaN values.

Rows not used in the fit because of excluded values (in ObservationInfo.Excluded) contain NaN values, with the following exception: Delete-1 diagnostics refer to the statistic with and without that observation (row) included in the fit. These diagnostics help identify important observations.

Fitted (predicted) response values based on input data, stored as an n-by-1 vector of numeric values. n is the number of observations in the input data. Use predict to compute predictions for other predictor values, or to compute confidence bounds on Fitted.

Model information, stored as a LinearFormula object or NonLinearFormula object. If you fit a linear or generalized linear regression model, then Formula is a LinearFormula object. If you fit a nonlinear regression model, then Formula is a NonLinearFormula object.

Log likelihood of the model distribution at the response values, stored as a numeric value. The mean is fitted from the model, and other parameters are estimated as part of the model fit.

Criterion for model comparison, stored as a structure with the following fields:

• AIC — Akaike information criterion

• AICc — Akaike information criterion corrected for sample size

• BIC — Bayesian information criterion

• CAIC — Consistent Akaike information criterion

To obtain any of these values as a scalar, index into the property using dot notation. For example, in a model mdl, the AIC value aic is:

aic = mdl.ModelCriterion.AIC

Mean squared error (residuals), stored as a numeric value. Mean square error is calculated as MSE = SSE / DFE, where MSE is the mean square error, SSE is the sum of squared errors, and DFE is the degrees of freedom.

Number of model coefficients, stored as a positive integer. NumCoefficients includes coefficients that are set to zero when the model terms are rank deficient.

Number of estimated coefficients in the model, stored as a positive integer. NumEstimatedCoefficients does not include coefficients that are set to zero when the model terms are rank deficient. NumEstimatedCoefficients is the degrees of freedom for regression.

Number of observations the fitting function used in fitting, stored as a positive integer. This is the number of observations supplied in the original table, dataset, or matrix, minus any excluded rows (set with the Excluded name-value pair) or rows with missing values.

Number of predictor variables used to fit the model, stored as a positive integer.

Number of variables in the input data, stored as a positive integer. NumVariables is the number of variables in the original table or dataset, or the total number of columns in the predictor matrix and response vector when the fit is based on those arrays. It includes variables, if any, that are not used as predictors or as the response.

Observation information, stored as a n-by-4 table, where n is equal to the number of rows of input data. The four columns of ObservationInfo contain the following:

FieldDescription
WeightsObservation weights. Default is all 1.
ExcludedLogical value, 1 indicates an observation that you excluded from the fit with the Exclude name-value pair.
MissingLogical value, 1 indicates a missing value in the input. Missing values are not used in the fit.
SubsetLogical value, 1 indicates the observation is not excluded or missing, so is used in the fit.

Observation names, stored as a cell array of character vectors containing the names of the observations used in the fit.

• If the fit is based on a table or dataset containing observation names, ObservationNames uses those names.

• Otherwise, ObservationNames is an empty cell array

Names of predictors used to fit the model, stored as a cell array of character vectors.

Residuals for fitted model, stored as a table that contains one row for each observation and the following columns.

FieldDescription
RawObserved minus fitted values.
PearsonRaw residuals divided by RMSE.
StandardizedRaw residuals divided by their estimated standard deviation.
StudentizedResidual divided by an independent estimate of the residual standard deviation. The residual for observation i is divided by an estimate of the error standard deviation based on all observations except for observation i.

To obtain any of these columns as a vector, index into the property using dot notation. For example, in a model mdl, the ordinary raw residual vector r is:

r = mdl.Residuals.Raw

Rows not used in the fit because of missing values (in ObservationInfo.Missing) contain NaN values.

Rows not used in the fit because of excluded values (in ObservationInfo.Excluded) contain NaN values, with the following exceptions:

• raw contains the difference between the observed and predicted values.

• standardized is the residual, standardized in the usual way.

• studentized matches the standardized values because this residual is not used in the estimate of the residual standard deviation.

Response variable name, stored as a character vector.

Root mean squared error (residuals), stored as a numeric value. The root mean squared error (RMSE) is equal to RMSE = sqrt(MSE), where MSE is the mean squared error.

Robust fit information, stored as a structure with the following fields:

FieldDescription
WgtFunRobust weighting function, such as 'bisquare' (see robustfit)
TuneValue specified for tuning parameter (can be [])
WeightsVector of weights used in final iteration of robust fit. This field is empty for compacted CompactLinearModel models.

This structure is empty unless fitlm constructed the model using robust regression.

R-squared value for the model, stored as a structure.

For a linear or nonlinear model, Rsquared is a structure with two fields:

• Ordinary — Ordinary (unadjusted) R-squared

• Adjusted — R-squared adjusted for the number of coefficients

For a generalized linear model, Rsquared is a structure with five fields:

• Ordinary — Ordinary (unadjusted) R-squared

• Adjusted — R-squared adjusted for the number of coefficients

• LLR — Log-likelihood ratio

• Deviance — Deviance

• AdjGeneralized — Adjusted generalized R-squared

The R-squared value is the proportion of total sum of squares explained by the model. The ordinary R-squared value relates to the SSR and SST properties:

Rsquared = SSR/SST = 1 - SSE/SST.

To obtain any of these values as a scalar, index into the property using dot notation. For example, the adjusted R-squared value in mdl is

r2 = mdl.Rsquared.Adjusted

Sum of squared errors (residuals), stored as a numeric value.

The Pythagorean theorem implies

SST = SSE + SSR.

Regression sum of squares, stored as a numeric value. The regression sum of squares is equal to the sum of squared deviations of the fitted values from their mean.

The Pythagorean theorem implies

SST = SSE + SSR.

Total sum of squares, stored as a numeric value. The total sum of squares is equal to the sum of squared deviations of y from mean(y).

The Pythagorean theorem implies

SST = SSE + SSR.

Stepwise fitting information, stored as a structure with the following fields.

FieldDescription
StartFormula representing the starting model
LowerFormula representing the lower bound model, these terms that must remain in the model
UpperFormula representing the upper bound model, model cannot contain more terms than Upper
CriterionCriterion used for the stepwise algorithm, such as 'sse'
PEnterValue of the parameter, such as 0.05
PRemoveValue of the parameter, such as 0.10
HistoryTable representing the steps taken in the fit

The History table has one row for each step including the initial fit, and the following variables (columns).

FieldDescription
ActionAction taken during this step, one of:
• 'Start' — First step

• 'Add' — A term is added

• 'Remove' — A term is removed

TermName
• 'Start' step: The starting model specification

• 'Add' or 'Remove' steps: The term moved in that step

TermsTerms matrix (see modelspec of fitlm)
DFRegression degrees of freedom after this step
delDFChange in regression degrees of freedom from previous step (negative for steps that remove a term)
DevianceDeviance (residual sum of squares) at that step
FStatF statistic that led to this step
PValuep-value of the F statistic

The structure is empty unless you use stepwiselm or stepwiseglm to fit the model.

Information about input variables contained in Variables, stored as a table with one row for each model term and the following columns.

FieldDescription
ClassCharacter vector giving variable class, such as 'double'
RangeCell array giving variable range:
• Continuous variable — Two-element vector [min,max], the minimum and maximum values

• Categorical variable — Cell array of distinct variable values

InModelLogical vector, where true indicates the variable is in the model
IsCategoricalLogical vector, where true indicates a categorical variable

Names of variables used in fit, stored as a cell array of character vectors.

• If the fit is based on a table or dataset, this property provides the names of the variables in that table or dataset.

• If the fit is based on a predictor matrix and response vector, VariableNames is the values in the VarNames name-value pair of the fitting method.

• Otherwise the variables have the default fitting names.

Data used to fit the model, stored as a table. Variables contains both observation and response values. If the fit is based on a table or dataset array, Variables contains all of the data from that table or dataset array. Otherwise, Variables is a table created from the input data matrix X and response vector y.

## Methods

 addTerms Add terms to linear regression model compact Compact linear regression model dwtest Durbin-Watson test of linear model fit Create linear regression model plot Scatter plot or added variable plot of linear model plotAdded Added variable plot or leverage plot for linear model plotAdjustedResponse Adjusted response plot for linear regression model plotDiagnostics Plot diagnostics of linear regression model plotResiduals Plot residuals of linear regression model removeTerms Remove terms from linear model step Improve linear regression model by adding or removing terms stepwise Create linear regression model by stepwise regression

### Inherited Methods

 anova Analysis of variance for linear model coefCI Confidence intervals of coefficient estimates of linear model coefTest Linear hypothesis test on linear regression model coefficients disp Display linear regression model feval Evaluate linear regression model prediction plotEffects Plot main effects of each predictor in linear regression model plotInteraction Plot interaction effects of two predictors in linear regression model plotSlice Plot of slices through fitted linear regression surface predict Predict response of linear regression model random Simulate responses for linear regression model

## Copy Semantics

Value. To learn how value classes affect copy operations, see Copying Objects (MATLAB) in the MATLAB® documentation.

## Examples

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Fit a linear model of the Hald data.

load hald X = ingredients; % Predictor variables y = heat; % Response 

Fit a default linear model to the data.

mdl = fitlm(X,y) 
mdl = Linear regression model: y ~ 1 + x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 Estimated Coefficients: Estimate SE tStat pValue ________ _______ ________ ________ (Intercept) 62.405 70.071 0.8906 0.39913 x1 1.5511 0.74477 2.0827 0.070822 x2 0.51017 0.72379 0.70486 0.5009 x3 0.10191 0.75471 0.13503 0.89592 x4 -0.14406 0.70905 -0.20317 0.84407 Number of observations: 13, Error degrees of freedom: 8 Root Mean Squared Error: 2.45 R-squared: 0.982, Adjusted R-Squared 0.974 F-statistic vs. constant model: 111, p-value = 4.76e-07 

Fit a model of a table that contains a categorical predictor.

Load the carsmall data.

load carsmall 

Construct a table containing continuous predictor variable Weight, nominal predictor variable Year, and response variable MPG.

tbl = table(MPG,Weight); tbl.Year = nominal(Model_Year); 

Create a fitted model of MPG as a function of Year, Weight, and Weight^2. (You don't have to include Weight explicitly in your formula because it is a lower-order term of Weight^2) and is included automatically.

mdl = fitlm(tbl,'MPG ~ Year + Weight^2') 
mdl = Linear regression model: MPG ~ 1 + Weight + Year + Weight^2 Estimated Coefficients: Estimate SE tStat pValue __________ __________ _______ __________ (Intercept) 54.206 4.7117 11.505 2.6648e-19 Weight -0.016404 0.0031249 -5.2493 1.0283e-06 Year_76 2.0887 0.71491 2.9215 0.0044137 Year_82 8.1864 0.81531 10.041 2.6364e-16 Weight^2 1.5573e-06 4.9454e-07 3.149 0.0022303 Number of observations: 94, Error degrees of freedom: 89 Root Mean Squared Error: 2.78 R-squared: 0.885, Adjusted R-Squared 0.88 F-statistic vs. constant model: 172, p-value = 5.52e-41 

fitlm creates two dummy (indicator) variables for the nominal variate, Year. The dummy variable Year_76 takes the value 1 if model year is 1976 and takes the value 0 if it is not. The dummy variable Year_82 takes the value 1 if model year is 1982 and takes the value 0 if it is not. And the year 1970 is the reference year. The corresponding model is

 

Fit a linear regression model using a robust fitting method.

load hald 

The hald data measures the effect of cement composition on its hardening heat. The matrix ingredients contains the percent composition of four chemicals present in the cement. The array heat contains the heat of hardening after 180 days for each cement sample.

Fit a robust linear model to the data.

mdl = fitlm(ingredients,heat,'linear','RobustOpts','on') 
mdl = Linear regression model (robust fit): y ~ 1 + x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 Estimated Coefficients: Estimate SE tStat pValue ________ _______ ________ ________ (Intercept) 60.09 75.818 0.79256 0.4509 x1 1.5753 0.80585 1.9548 0.086346 x2 0.5322 0.78315 0.67957 0.51596 x3 0.13346 0.8166 0.16343 0.87424 x4 -0.12052 0.7672 -0.15709 0.87906 Number of observations: 13, Error degrees of freedom: 8 Root Mean Squared Error: 2.65 R-squared: 0.979, Adjusted R-Squared 0.969 F-statistic vs. constant model: 94.6, p-value = 9.03e-07 

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## Algorithms

The main fitting algorithm is QR decomposition. For robust fitting, the algorithm is robustfit.

## Alternatives

To remove redundant predictors in linear regression using lasso or elastic net, use the lasso function.

To regularize a regression with correlated terms using ridge regression, use the ridge or lasso functions.

To regularize a regression with correlated terms using partial least squares, use the plsregress function.