A data scientist is analyzing a data set with categorical features and would like to...

→ Categorical variables must be transformed into numerical form for most machine learning models. Two standard approaches:

One-hot encoding: Converts each category into a separate binary column (useful for nominal variables).

Label encoding: Converts categories into integers (useful for ordinal or tree-based models).

Why other options are incorrect:

A & E: Normalization and scaling are used for continuous variables, not categorical.

C: Linearization refers to transforming relationships, not categorical conversion.

F: Pivoting rearranges data structure but doesn’t encode categories.

Official References:

CompTIA DataX (DY0-001) Study Guide – Section 3.3:“Label encoding and one-hot encoding are common transformations applied to categorical variables to enable model compatibility.”

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