abalone.names

1. Title of Database: Abalone data

2. Relevant Information Paragraph:

   Predicting the age of abalone from physical measurements.  The age of
   abalone is determined by cutting the shell through the cone, staining it,
   and counting the number of rings through a microscope -- a boring and
   time-consuming task.  Other measurements, which are easier to obtain, are
   used to predict the age.  Further information, such as weather patterns
   and location (hence food availability) may be required to solve the problem.

   From the original data examples with missing values were removed (the
   majority having the predicted value missing), and the ranges of the
   continuous values have been scaled for use with an ANN (by dividing by 200).

3. Attribute information:

   Given is the attribute name, attribute type, the measurement unit and a
   brief description.  The number of rings is the value to predict: either
   as a continuous value or as a classification problem.

	Name		Data Type	Meas.	Description
	----		---------	-----	-----------
	Sex		nominal			M, F, and I (infant)
	Length		continuous	mm	Longest shell measurement
	Diameter	continuous	mm	perpendicular to length
	Height		continuous	mm	with meat in shell
	Whole weight	continuous	grams	whole abalone
	Shucked weight	continuous	grams	weight of meat
	Viscera weight	continuous	grams	gut weight (after bleeding)
	Shell weight	continuous	grams	after being dried
	Rings		integer			+1.5 gives the age in years