Which consequence arises from applying Box-Cox transformation to a feature containing negative values?

Question

Data Science — Hard

Which consequence arises from applying Box-Cox transformation to a feature containing negative values?

Accepted Answer

The Box-Cox transformation is strictly defined for positive data values. If a dataset contains zero or negative values, the mathematical formula involves logarithms or power operations that are undefined or result in non-real numbers. While the Yeo-Johnson transformation is an extension that handles zero and negative values, the standard Box-Cox will raise a domain error in most implementations.