Compute the TheilsU metric — provided by torchmetrics. Use when the user has predictions and ground-truth and needs to compute TheilsU, or asks how to score with TheilsU.
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---
name: theilsu
description: Compute the TheilsU metric — provided by torchmetrics. Use when the user has predictions and ground-truth and needs to compute TheilsU, or asks how to score with TheilsU.
metadata:
skill_kind: metric
source_lib: torchmetrics
import_path: torchmetrics.TheilsU
source: library_introspection
---
# theilsu
> Metric `TheilsU` from `torchmetrics` (torchmetrics.TheilsU)
## When to invoke this skill
The user has predictions + ground truth and asks to evaluate with TheilsU, or
mentions `torchmetrics.TheilsU` directly, or wants the standard torchmetrics implementation.
## Reference signature
```python
from torchmetrics import TheilsU
# TheilsU(num_classes: int, nan_strategy: Literal['replace', 'drop'] = 'replace', nan_replace_value: Optional[float] = 0.0, **kwargs: Any) -> None
```
## Library docstring
```
Compute `Theil's U`_ statistic measuring the association between two categorical (nominal) data series.
.. math::
U(X|Y) = \frac{H(X) - H(X|Y)}{H(X)}
where :math:`H(X)` is entropy of variable :math:`X` while :math:`H(X|Y)` is the conditional entropy of :math:`X`
given :math:`Y`. It is also know as the Uncertainty Coefficient. Theils's U is an asymmetric coefficient, i.e.
:math:`TheilsU(preds, target) \neq TheilsU(target, preds)`, so the order of the inputs matters. The output values
lies in [0, 1], where a 0 means y has no information about x while value 1 means y has complete information about x.
As input to ``forward`` and ``update`` the metric accepts the following input:
- ``preds`` (:class:`~torch.Tensor`): Either 1D or 2D tensor of categorical (nominal) data from the first data
series (called X in the above definition) with shape ``(batch_size,)`` or ``(batch_size, num_classes)``,
respectively.
- ``target`` (:class:`~torch.Tensor`): Either 1D or 2D tensor of categorical (nominal) data from the second data
series (called Y in the above definition) with shape ``(batch_size,)`` or ``(batch_size, num_classes)``,
respectively.
As output of ``forward`` and ``compute`` the metric returns the following output:
- ``theils_u`` (:class:`~torch.Tensor`): Scalar tensor containing the Theil's U statistic.
Args:
num_classes: Integer specifying the number of classes
nan_strategy: Indication of whether to replace or drop ``NaN`` values
nan_replace_value: Value to replace ``NaN``s when ``nan_strategy = 'replace'``
kwargs: Additional keyword arguments, see :ref:`Metric kwargs` for more info.
Example::
>>> from torch import randint
>>> from torchmetrics.nominal import TheilsU
>>> preds = randint(10, (10,))
>>> target = randint(10, (10,))
>>> metric = TheilsU(num_classes=10)
>>> metric(preds, target)
tensor(0.8530)
```
## Quick recipe
```python
import torchmetrics as _m
score = _m.TheilsU(y_true, y_pred)
```
## Don'ts
- Don't reimplement when the library version handles edge cases (NaN, ties, empty inputs) better than a hand-rolled formula.
- Always check the library version's argument order — sklearn is `(y_true, y_pred)` while torchmetrics is `(preds, target)`.