What is the difference between pandas.qcut and pandas.cut?

Michael Zippo

👻 Check our latest review to choose the best laptop for Machine Learning engineers and Deep learning tasks!

The documentation says:

http://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/dev/basics.html

"Continuous values can be discretized using the cut (bins based on values) and qcut (bins based on sample quantiles) functions"

Sounds very abstract to me... I can see the differences in the example below but what does qcut (sample quantile) actually do/mean? When would you use qcut versus cut?

Thanks.

factors = np.random.randn(30)

In [11]:
pd.cut(factors, 5)
Out[11]:
[(-0.411, 0.575], (-0.411, 0.575], (-0.411, 0.575], (-0.411, 0.575], (0.575, 1.561], ..., (-0.411, 0.575], (-1.397, -0.411], (0.575, 1.561], (-2.388, -1.397], (-0.411, 0.575]]
Length: 30
Categories (5, object): [(-2.388, -1.397] < (-1.397, -0.411] < (-0.411, 0.575] < (0.575, 1.561] < (1.561, 2.547]]

In [14]:
pd.qcut(factors, 5)
Out[14]:
[(-0.348, 0.0899], (-0.348, 0.0899], (0.0899, 1.19], (0.0899, 1.19], (0.0899, 1.19], ..., (0.0899, 1.19], (-1.137, -0.348], (1.19, 2.547], [-2.383, -1.137], (-0.348, 0.0899]]
Length: 30
Categories (5, object): [[-2.383, -1.137] < (-1.137, -0.348] < (-0.348, 0.0899] < (0.0899, 1.19] < (1.19, 2.547]]’

👻 Read also: what is the best laptop for engineering students?

We hope this article has helped you to resolve the problem. Apart from What is the difference between pandas.qcut and pandas.cut?, check other code Python module-related topics.

Want to excel in Python? See our review of the best Python online courses 2023. If you are interested in Data Science, check also how to learn programming in R.

By the way, this material is also available in other languages:

Julia Richtgofen

Singapore | 2023-02-04

Simply put and clear. Thank you for sharing. What is the difference between pandas.qcut and pandas.cut? and other issues with DOM PHP module was always my weak point 😁. Checked yesterday, it works!

Jan Innsbruck

Berlin | 2023-02-04

Ev PHP module is always a bit confusing 😭 What is the difference between pandas.qcut and pandas.cut? is not the only problem I encountered. Will get back tomorrow with feedback

Xu Schteiner

Rome | 2023-02-04

Simply put and clear. Thank you for sharing. What is the difference between pandas.qcut and pandas.cut? and other issues with dis Python module was always my weak point 😁. I am just not quite sure it is the best method