Add terms to generalized linear regression model
addTerms
treats a categorical predictor as follows:
A model with a categorical predictor that has L levels
(categories) includes L – 1 indicator variables. The model uses the first category as a
reference level, so it does not include the indicator variable for the reference
level. If the data type of the categorical predictor is
categorical
, then you can check the order of categories
by using categories
and reorder the
categories by using reordercats
to customize the
reference level.
addTerms
treats the group of L – 1 indicator variables as a single variable. If you want to treat
the indicator variables as distinct predictor variables, create indicator
variables manually by using dummyvar
. Then use the
indicator variables, except the one corresponding to the reference level of the
categorical variable, when you fit a model. For the categorical predictor
X
, if you specify all columns of
dummyvar(X)
and an intercept term as predictors, then the
design matrix becomes rank deficient.
Interaction terms between a continuous predictor and a categorical predictor with L levels consist of the element-wise product of the L – 1 indicator variables with the continuous predictor.
Interaction terms between two categorical predictors with L and M levels consist of the (L – 1)*(M – 1) indicator variables to include all possible combinations of the two categorical predictor levels.
You cannot specify higher-order terms for a categorical predictor because the square of an indicator is equal to itself.
Use stepwiseglm
to specify terms in a
starting model and continue improving the model until no single step of adding
or removing a term is beneficial.
Use removeTerms
to remove specific terms
from a model.
Use step
to optimally improve a model by
adding or removing terms.