Robust Scaling Method

What is Robust Scaling?

Robust Scaling is a data preprocessing technique that uses the median and interquartile range (IQR) instead of mean and standard deviation, making it resistant to outliers.

Formula

x_scaled = (x - median) / IQR

Where IQR = Q3 - Q1 (75th percentile - 25th percentile)

When to Use

• Outlier-prone Data: When data contains extreme values
• Non-normal Distributions: When data is skewed
• Algorithms Sensitive to Scale: SVM, KNN, neural networks

Related Terms

• Standard Scaling: Alternative using mean/std
• MinMax Scaling: Scales to fixed range