Got stuck in Normalization and rescaling. Please Help

I am writing a MATLAB code but I am confused whether I should use normalization or rescaling. What is the difference between both of them. ?

Answer 1

[Naman]

Hi Pravin,

• Normalization refers to the process of transforming data to have a specific distribution or range. It typically involves scaling the data to have a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one. The purpose of normalization is to make different features or variables comparable on a similar scale, which can be useful in various statistical and machine learning algorithms.
• Documentation Link -> Normalize data - MATLAB normalize - MathWorks India
• Rescaling, on the other hand, refers to adjusting the range of values in a dataset to a desired range. This can involve scaling the values linearly or nonlinearly to a specific minimum and maximum range. The purpose of rescaling is often to enhance visualization or to ensure that the data falls within a specific range required by a particular algorithm or application.
• Documentation Link -> Scale range of array elements - MATLAB rescale - MathWorks India

Hope it helps !

Answer 2

[Rik]

Your question has nothing to do with Matlab.

Normalization either means the highest value is set to one (by dividing every value by the highest value), or it means ensuring the area is set to one (by dividing by the area).

Rescaling doesn't really have a fixed meaning, but usually means data is stored with a different scale than the actual data scale. Multiplying with the rescale factor (the RescaleSlope in the context of dicom images) will restore the original data.