title: Detecting novel associations in large data sets.
abstract: Identifying interesting relationships between pairs of variables in large data sets is increasingly important. Here, we present a measure of dependence for two-variable relationships: the maximal information coefficient (MIC). MIC captures a wide range of associations both functional and not, and for functional relationships provides a score that roughly equals the coefficient of determination (R(2)) of the data relative to the regression function. MIC belongs to a larger class of maximal information-based nonparametric exploration (MINE) statistics for identifying and classifying relationships. We apply MIC and MINE to data sets in global health, gene expression, major-league baseball, and the human gut microbiota and identify known and novel relationships.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. dnreshef@mit.edu
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Reshef
authors.forename: Yakir A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Reshef
authors.forename: Hilary K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Finucane
authors.forename: Sharon R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Grossman
authors.forename: Gilean
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McVean
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Turnbaugh
authors.forename: Eric S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Lander
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mitzenmacher
authors.forename: Pardis C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Sabeti
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001484:Baseball / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D054892:Metagenome; D051379:Mice; D009765:Obesity; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics