IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intfor/v38y2022i4p1473-1481.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Forecasting with trees

Author

Listed:
  • Januschowski, Tim
  • Wang, Yuyang
  • Torkkola, Kari
  • Erkkilä, Timo
  • Hasson, Hilaf
  • Gasthaus, Jan

Abstract

The prevalence of approaches based on gradient boosted trees among the top contestants in the M5 competition is potentially the most eye-catching result. Tree-based methods out-shone other solutions, in particular deep learning-based solutions. The winners in both tracks of the M5 competition heavily relied on them. This prevalence is even more remarkable given the dominance of other methods in the literature and the M4 competition. This article tries to explain why tree-based methods were so widely used in the M5 competition. We see possibilities for future improvements of tree-based models and then distill some learnings for other approaches, including but not limited to neural networks.

Suggested Citation

  • Januschowski, Tim & Wang, Yuyang & Torkkola, Kari & Erkkilä, Timo & Hasson, Hilaf & Gasthaus, Jan, 2022. "Forecasting with trees," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1473-1481.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intfor:v:38:y:2022:i:4:p:1473-1481
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijforecast.2021.10.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169207021001679
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijforecast.2021.10.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Smyl, Slawek, 2020. "A hybrid method of exponential smoothing and recurrent neural networks for time series forecasting," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 75-85.
    2. Montero-Manso, Pablo & Hyndman, Rob J., 2021. "Principles and algorithms for forecasting groups of time series: Locality and globality," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1632-1653.
    3. Montero-Manso, Pablo & Athanasopoulos, George & Hyndman, Rob J. & Talagala, Thiyanga S., 2020. "FFORMA: Feature-based forecast model averaging," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 86-92.
    4. Kourentzes, Nikolaos, 2013. "Intermittent demand forecasts with neural networks," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 198-206.
    5. Andrew W. Senior & Richard Evans & John Jumper & James Kirkpatrick & Laurent Sifre & Tim Green & Chongli Qin & Augustin Žídek & Alexander W. R. Nelson & Alex Bridgland & Hugo Penedones & Stig Petersen, 2020. "Improved protein structure prediction using potentials from deep learning," Nature, Nature, vol. 577(7792), pages 706-710, January.
    6. Tim Januschowski & Stephan Kolassa, 2019. "A Classification of Business Forecasting Problems," Foresight: The International Journal of Applied Forecasting, International Institute of Forecasters, issue 52, pages 36-43, Winter.
    7. Spyros Makridakis & Evangelos Spiliotis, 2021. "The M5 Competition and the Future of Human Expertise in Forecasting," Foresight: The International Journal of Applied Forecasting, International Institute of Forecasters, issue 60, pages 33-37, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Davood Pirayesh Neghab & Mucahit Cevik & M. I. M. Wahab, 2023. "Explaining Exchange Rate Forecasts with Macroeconomic Fundamentals Using Interpretive Machine Learning," Papers 2303.16149, arXiv.org.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Petropoulos, Fotios & Apiletti, Daniele & Assimakopoulos, Vassilios & Babai, Mohamed Zied & Barrow, Devon K. & Ben Taieb, Souhaib & Bergmeir, Christoph & Bessa, Ricardo J. & Bijak, Jakub & Boylan, Joh, 2022. "Forecasting: theory and practice," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 705-871.
      • Fotios Petropoulos & Daniele Apiletti & Vassilios Assimakopoulos & Mohamed Zied Babai & Devon K. Barrow & Souhaib Ben Taieb & Christoph Bergmeir & Ricardo J. Bessa & Jakub Bijak & John E. Boylan & Jet, 2020. "Forecasting: theory and practice," Papers 2012.03854, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    2. Makridakis, Spyros & Spiliotis, Evangelos & Assimakopoulos, Vassilios, 2022. "Predicting/hypothesizing the findings of the M5 competition," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1337-1345.
    3. Evangelos Spiliotis & Spyros Makridakis & Artemios-Anargyros Semenoglou & Vassilios Assimakopoulos, 2022. "Comparison of statistical and machine learning methods for daily SKU demand forecasting," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 3037-3061, July.
    4. Spyros Makridakis & Chris Fry & Fotios Petropoulos & Evangelos Spiliotis, 2022. "The Future of Forecasting Competitions: Design Attributes and Principles," INFORMS Joural on Data Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(1), pages 96-113, April.
    5. Godahewa, Rakshitha & Bergmeir, Christoph & Webb, Geoffrey I. & Montero-Manso, Pablo, 2023. "An accurate and fully-automated ensemble model for weekly time series forecasting," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 641-658.
    6. Bojer, Casper Solheim, 2022. "Understanding machine learning-based forecasting methods: A decomposition framework and research opportunities," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1555-1561.
    7. Makridakis, Spyros & Spiliotis, Evangelos & Assimakopoulos, Vassilios & Chen, Zhi & Gaba, Anil & Tsetlin, Ilia & Winkler, Robert L., 2022. "The M5 uncertainty competition: Results, findings and conclusions," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1365-1385.
    8. Ruben Loaiza‐Maya & Gael M. Martin & David T. Frazier, 2021. "Focused Bayesian prediction," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(5), pages 517-543, August.
    9. Wellens, Arnoud P. & Boute, Robert N. & Udenio, Maximiliano, 2024. "Simplifying tree-based methods for retail sales forecasting with explanatory variables," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 314(2), pages 523-539.
    10. Semenoglou, Artemios-Anargyros & Spiliotis, Evangelos & Makridakis, Spyros & Assimakopoulos, Vassilios, 2021. "Investigating the accuracy of cross-learning time series forecasting methods," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 1072-1084.
    11. Andrea Kolková & Aleksandr Kljuènikov, 2021. "Demand forecasting: an alternative approach based on technical indicator Pbands," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 12(4), pages 1063-1094, December.
    12. Kang, Yanfei & Spiliotis, Evangelos & Petropoulos, Fotios & Athiniotis, Nikolaos & Li, Feng & Assimakopoulos, Vassilios, 2021. "Déjà vu: A data-centric forecasting approach through time series cross-similarity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 719-731.
    13. Anderer, Matthias & Li, Feng, 2022. "Hierarchical forecasting with a top-down alignment of independent-level forecasts," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1405-1414.
    14. Wilson, Tom & Grossman, Irina & Temple, Jeromey, 2023. "Evaluation of the best M4 competition methods for small area population forecasting," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 110-122.
    15. Makridakis, Spyros & Spiliotis, Evangelos & Assimakopoulos, Vassilios, 2022. "M5 accuracy competition: Results, findings, and conclusions," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1346-1364.
    16. De Bock, Koen W. & Coussement, Kristof & Caigny, Arno De & Słowiński, Roman & Baesens, Bart & Boute, Robert N. & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Delen, Dursun & Kraus, Mathias & Lessmann, Stefan & Maldonado, Sebast, 2024. "Explainable AI for Operational Research: A defining framework, methods, applications, and a research agenda," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 317(2), pages 249-272.
    17. Koen W. de Bock & Kristof Coussement & Arno De Caigny & Roman Slowiński & Bart Baesens & Robert N Boute & Tsan-Ming Choi & Dursun Delen & Mathias Kraus & Stefan Lessmann & Sebastián Maldonado & David , 2023. "Explainable AI for Operational Research: A Defining Framework, Methods, Applications, and a Research Agenda," Post-Print hal-04219546, HAL.
    18. Van Belle, Jente & Crevits, Ruben & Verbeke, Wouter, 2023. "Improving forecast stability using deep learning," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1333-1350.
    19. Ma, Shaohui & Fildes, Robert, 2021. "Retail sales forecasting with meta-learning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(1), pages 111-128.
    20. José V. Segura-Heras & José D. Bermúdez & Ana Corberán-Vallet & Enriqueta Vercher, 2022. "Analysis of Weighting Strategies for Improving the Accuracy of Combined Forecasts," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-12, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intfor:v:38:y:2022:i:4:p:1473-1481. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijforecast .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.