Accenture Data Science Recently Asked Interview Questions Answers
A fair six-sided die is rolled 6 times. What is the probability of getting all outcomes as unique?
A) 0.01543
B) 0.01993
C) 0.23148
D) 0.03333
Ans: (A)
For all the outcomes to be unique, we have 6 choices for the first turn, 5 for the second turn, 4 for the third turn and so on
Therefore the probability if getting all unique outcomes will be equal to 0.01543
You are given a data set consisting of variables having more than 30% missing values? Let’s say, out of 50 variables, 8 variables have missing values higher than 30%. How will you deal with them?
We can deal with them in the following ways:
Assign a unique category to missing values, who knows the missing values might decipher some trend
We can remove them blatantly.
Or, we can sensibly check their distribution with the target variable, and if found any pattern we’ll keep those missing values and assign them a new category while removing others.
‘People who bought this, also bought…’ recommendations seen on amazon is a result of which algorithm?
The basic idea for this kind of recommendation engine comes from collaborative filtering.
Collaborative Filtering algorithm considers “User Behavior” for recommending items. They exploit behavior of other users and items in terms of transaction history, ratings, selection and purchase information. Other users behaviour and preferences over the items are used to recommend items to the new users. In this case, features of the items are not known.
What do you understand by Type I vs Type II error ?
Type I error is committed when the null hypothesis is true and we reject it, also known as a ‘False Positive’. Type II error is committed when the null hypothesis is false and we accept it, also known as ‘False Negative’.
In the context of confusion matrix, we can say Type I error occurs when we classify a value as positive (1) when it is actually negative (0). Type II error occurs when we classify a value as negative (0) when it is actually positive(1).
You are working on a classification problem. For validation purposes, you’ve randomly sampled the training data set into train and validation. You are confident that your model will work incredibly well on unseen data since your validation accuracy is high. However, you get shocked after getting poor test accuracy. What went wrong?
In case of classification problem, we should always use stratified sampling instead of random sampling. A random sampling doesn’t takes into consideration the proportion of target classes. On the contrary, stratified sampling helps to maintain the distribution of target variable in the resultant distributed samples also.
You have been asked to evaluate a regression model based on R², adjusted R² and tolerance. What will be your criteria?
Tolerance (1 / VIF) is used as an indicator of multicollinearity. It is an indicator of percent of variance in a predictor which cannot be accounted by other predictors. Large values of tolerance is desirable.
We will consider adjusted R² as opposed to R² to evaluate model fit because R² increases irrespective of improvement in prediction accuracy as we add more variables. But, adjusted R² would only increase if an additional variable improves the accuracy of model, otherwise stays same. It is difficult to commit a general threshold value for adjusted R² because it varies between data sets. For example: a gene mutation data set might result in lower adjusted R² and still provide fairly good predictions, as compared to a stock market data where lower adjusted R² implies that model is not good.
Do gradient descent methods always converge to same point?
No, they do not because in some cases it reaches a local minima or a local optima point. You don’t reach the global optima point. It depends on the data and starting conditions
During analysis, how do you treat missing values?
The extent of the missing values is identified after identifying the variables with missing values. If any patterns are identified the analyst has to concentrate on them as it could lead to interesting and meaningful business insights. If there are no patterns identified, then the missing values can be substituted with mean or median values (imputation) or they can simply be ignored.There are various factors to be considered when answering this question-
Understand the problem statement, understand the data and then give the answer.Assigning a default value which can be mean, minimum or maximum value. Getting into the data is important.
If it is a categorical variable, the default value is assigned. The missing value is assigned a default value.
If you have a distribution of data coming, for normal distribution give the mean value.
Should we even treat missing values is another important point to consider? If 80% of the values for a variable are missing then you can answer that you would be dropping the variable instead of treating the missing values.
Explain about the box cox transformation in regression models.
For some reason or the other, the response variable for a regression analysis might not satisfy one or more assumptions of an ordinary least squares regression. The residuals could either curve as the prediction increases or follow skewed distribution. In such scenarios, it is necessary to transform the response variable so that the data meets the required assumptions. A Box cox transformation is a statistical technique to transform non-mornla dependent variables into a normal shape. If the given data is not normal then most of the statistical techniques assume normality. Applying a box cox transformation means that you can run a broader number of tests.
Can you use machine learning for time series analysis?
Yes, it can be used but it depends on the applications.
A fair six-sided die is rolled 6 times. What is the probability of getting all outcomes as unique?
A) 0.01543
B) 0.01993
C) 0.23148
D) 0.03333
Ans: (A)
For all the outcomes to be unique, we have 6 choices for the first turn, 5 for the second turn, 4 for the third turn and so on
Therefore the probability if getting all unique outcomes will be equal to 0.01543
You are given a data set consisting of variables having more than 30% missing values? Let’s say, out of 50 variables, 8 variables have missing values higher than 30%. How will you deal with them?
We can deal with them in the following ways:
Assign a unique category to missing values, who knows the missing values might decipher some trend
We can remove them blatantly.
Or, we can sensibly check their distribution with the target variable, and if found any pattern we’ll keep those missing values and assign them a new category while removing others.
 |
| Accenture Data Science Recently Asked Interview Questions Answers |
‘People who bought this, also bought…’ recommendations seen on amazon is a result of which algorithm?
The basic idea for this kind of recommendation engine comes from collaborative filtering.
Collaborative Filtering algorithm considers “User Behavior” for recommending items. They exploit behavior of other users and items in terms of transaction history, ratings, selection and purchase information. Other users behaviour and preferences over the items are used to recommend items to the new users. In this case, features of the items are not known.
What do you understand by Type I vs Type II error ?
Type I error is committed when the null hypothesis is true and we reject it, also known as a ‘False Positive’. Type II error is committed when the null hypothesis is false and we accept it, also known as ‘False Negative’.
In the context of confusion matrix, we can say Type I error occurs when we classify a value as positive (1) when it is actually negative (0). Type II error occurs when we classify a value as negative (0) when it is actually positive(1).
You are working on a classification problem. For validation purposes, you’ve randomly sampled the training data set into train and validation. You are confident that your model will work incredibly well on unseen data since your validation accuracy is high. However, you get shocked after getting poor test accuracy. What went wrong?
In case of classification problem, we should always use stratified sampling instead of random sampling. A random sampling doesn’t takes into consideration the proportion of target classes. On the contrary, stratified sampling helps to maintain the distribution of target variable in the resultant distributed samples also.
You have been asked to evaluate a regression model based on R², adjusted R² and tolerance. What will be your criteria?
Tolerance (1 / VIF) is used as an indicator of multicollinearity. It is an indicator of percent of variance in a predictor which cannot be accounted by other predictors. Large values of tolerance is desirable.
We will consider adjusted R² as opposed to R² to evaluate model fit because R² increases irrespective of improvement in prediction accuracy as we add more variables. But, adjusted R² would only increase if an additional variable improves the accuracy of model, otherwise stays same. It is difficult to commit a general threshold value for adjusted R² because it varies between data sets. For example: a gene mutation data set might result in lower adjusted R² and still provide fairly good predictions, as compared to a stock market data where lower adjusted R² implies that model is not good.
Do gradient descent methods always converge to same point?
No, they do not because in some cases it reaches a local minima or a local optima point. You don’t reach the global optima point. It depends on the data and starting conditions
During analysis, how do you treat missing values?
The extent of the missing values is identified after identifying the variables with missing values. If any patterns are identified the analyst has to concentrate on them as it could lead to interesting and meaningful business insights. If there are no patterns identified, then the missing values can be substituted with mean or median values (imputation) or they can simply be ignored.There are various factors to be considered when answering this question-
Understand the problem statement, understand the data and then give the answer.Assigning a default value which can be mean, minimum or maximum value. Getting into the data is important.
If it is a categorical variable, the default value is assigned. The missing value is assigned a default value.
If you have a distribution of data coming, for normal distribution give the mean value.
Should we even treat missing values is another important point to consider? If 80% of the values for a variable are missing then you can answer that you would be dropping the variable instead of treating the missing values.
Explain about the box cox transformation in regression models.
For some reason or the other, the response variable for a regression analysis might not satisfy one or more assumptions of an ordinary least squares regression. The residuals could either curve as the prediction increases or follow skewed distribution. In such scenarios, it is necessary to transform the response variable so that the data meets the required assumptions. A Box cox transformation is a statistical technique to transform non-mornla dependent variables into a normal shape. If the given data is not normal then most of the statistical techniques assume normality. Applying a box cox transformation means that you can run a broader number of tests.
Can you use machine learning for time series analysis?
Yes, it can be used but it depends on the applications.
What are Recommender Systems?
A subclass of information filtering systems that are meant to predict the preferences or ratings that a user would give to a product. Recommender systems are widely used in movies, news, research articles, products, social tags, music, etc.
Why data cleaning plays a vital role in analysis?
Cleaning data from multiple sources to transform it into a format that data analysts or data scientists can work with is a cumbersome process because - as the number of data sources increases, the time take to clean the data increases exponentially due to the number of sources and the volume of data generated in these sources. It might take up to 80% of the time for just cleaning data making it a critical part of analysis task.
A jar has 1000 coins, of which 999 are fair and 1 is double headed. Pick a coin at random, and toss it 10 times. Given that you see 10 heads, what is the probability that the next toss of that coin is also a head?
There are two ways of choosing the coin. One is to pick a fair coin and the other is to pick the one with two heads.
Probability of selecting fair coin = 999/1000 = 0.999
Probability of selecting unfair coin = 1/1000 = 0.001
Selecting 10 heads in a row = Selecting fair coin * Getting 10 heads + Selecting an unfair coin
P (A) = 0.999 * (1/2)^5 = 0.999 * (1/1024) = 0.000976
P (B) = 0.001 * 1 = 0.001
P( A / A + B ) = 0.000976 / (0.000976 + 0.001) = 0.4939
P( B / A + B ) = 0.001 / 0.001976 = 0.5061
Probability of selecting another head = P(A/A+B) * 0.5 + P(B/A+B) * 1 = 0.4939 * 0.5 + 0.5061 = 0.7531
What are Eigenvalue and Eigenvector?
Eigenvectors are for understanding linear transformations. In data analysis, we usually calculate the eigenvectors for a correlation or covariance matrix. Eigenvalues are the directions along which a particular linear transformation acts by flipping, compressing or stretching.
Why is resampling done?
Resampling is done in any of these cases:
Estimating the accuracy of sample statistics by using subsets of accessible data or drawing randomly with replacement from a set of data points
Substituting labels on data points when performing significance tests
Validating models by using random subsets (bootstrapping, cross validation).
A subclass of information filtering systems that are meant to predict the preferences or ratings that a user would give to a product. Recommender systems are widely used in movies, news, research articles, products, social tags, music, etc.
Why data cleaning plays a vital role in analysis?
Cleaning data from multiple sources to transform it into a format that data analysts or data scientists can work with is a cumbersome process because - as the number of data sources increases, the time take to clean the data increases exponentially due to the number of sources and the volume of data generated in these sources. It might take up to 80% of the time for just cleaning data making it a critical part of analysis task.
A jar has 1000 coins, of which 999 are fair and 1 is double headed. Pick a coin at random, and toss it 10 times. Given that you see 10 heads, what is the probability that the next toss of that coin is also a head?
There are two ways of choosing the coin. One is to pick a fair coin and the other is to pick the one with two heads.
Probability of selecting fair coin = 999/1000 = 0.999
Probability of selecting unfair coin = 1/1000 = 0.001
Selecting 10 heads in a row = Selecting fair coin * Getting 10 heads + Selecting an unfair coin
P (A) = 0.999 * (1/2)^5 = 0.999 * (1/1024) = 0.000976
P (B) = 0.001 * 1 = 0.001
P( A / A + B ) = 0.000976 / (0.000976 + 0.001) = 0.4939
P( B / A + B ) = 0.001 / 0.001976 = 0.5061
Probability of selecting another head = P(A/A+B) * 0.5 + P(B/A+B) * 1 = 0.4939 * 0.5 + 0.5061 = 0.7531
What are Eigenvalue and Eigenvector?
Eigenvectors are for understanding linear transformations. In data analysis, we usually calculate the eigenvectors for a correlation or covariance matrix. Eigenvalues are the directions along which a particular linear transformation acts by flipping, compressing or stretching.
Why is resampling done?
Resampling is done in any of these cases:
Estimating the accuracy of sample statistics by using subsets of accessible data or drawing randomly with replacement from a set of data points
Substituting labels on data points when performing significance tests
Validating models by using random subsets (bootstrapping, cross validation).
Thank you so much for this nice information.
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