What is overfitting in model evaluation?

Updated May 17, 2026

Short answer

Overfitting occurs when a model learns training data too well, including noise.

Deep explanation

An overfit model performs well on training data but poorly on unseen data due to excessive complexity or memorization.

Real-world example

A stock prediction model that performs perfectly on historical data but fails in live trading.

Common mistakes

  • Using overly complex models without regularization.

Follow-up questions

  • How to prevent overfitting?
  • How to detect it?

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