Efficient Feature Selection Method using Binary Teaching-learning-based Optimization Algorithm

High dimensionality is the biggest problem when working with large datasets. Feature selection is a procedure for reducing the dimensionality of datasets by removing additional and irrelevant features; the most effective features in the dataset will remain, increasing the algorithms’ performance. In this paper, a novel procedure for feature selection is presented that includes a binary teaching learning-based optimization algorithm with mutation (BMTLBO). The TLBO algorithm is one of the most efficient and practical optimization techniques. Although this algorithm has fast convergence speed and it benefits from exploration capability, there may be a possibility of trapping into a local optimum. So, we try to establish a balance between exploration and exploitation. The proposed method is in two parts: First, we used the binary version of the TLBO algorithm for feature selection and added a mutation operator to implement a strong local search capability (BMTLBO). Second, we used a modified TLBO algorithm with the self-learning phase (SLTLBO) for training a neural network to show the application of the classification problem to evaluate the performance of the procedures of the method. We tested the proposed method on 14 datasets in terms of classification accuracy and the number of features. The results showed BMTLBO outperformed the standard TLBO algorithm and proved the potency of the proposed method. The results are very promising and close to optimal.