OVERFITTING

A modeling error which occurs when a function is too closely fit to a limited set of data points. Overfitting the model generally takes the form of making an overly complex model to explain idiosyncrasies in the data under study. In reality, the data being studied often has some degree of error or random noise within it. Thus attempting to make the model conform too closely to slightly inaccurate data can infect the model with substantial errors and reduce its predictive power.