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If $X$ is your data set with columns $x_i$ representing all your variables, then principal component analysis (PCA) of $X$ gives $$T=XW,$$ where $T$ represents scores and $W$ represents loadings (columns $w_i$ of $W$ are eigenvectors of the covariance matrix).

Can we say that $w_i$ vector represents the importance of $x_i$? Or is this information only conveyed by the scores? I am confused by the fact that $w_i$'s represent a totally different space than that of $x_i$'s, albeit they being the projection of the $x_i$.

amoeba
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Hiren
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  • What do you mean by "Or this information is only conveyed by scores."? – zhanxw Oct 02 '15 at 04:59
  • Hello @Hiren, welcome to CrossValidated. Your question is not entirely clear. As far as I understand, $W$ has eigenvectors of the covariance matrix in columns, right? That's what you mean by "loadings"? Next, what do you mean by $x_i$, is it one column of $X$, i.e. one of the variables? What is $w_i$, a column of $W$? – amoeba Oct 02 '15 at 09:01
  • Hi amoeba7, x_i is the column of X and w_i is the column of W. My question was is x_i and w_i related, then how? – Hiren Oct 02 '15 at 16:26
  • "Or this information is only conveyed by scores" meant that importance of column vector x_i is conveyed by scores. – Hiren Oct 02 '15 at 16:28
  • @Hiren, I edited your post to clarify the notation according to what you wrote in the comments, please check that everything is correct. – amoeba Oct 03 '15 at 15:08
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  • $W$ shouldn't be called loadings. It is eigenvectors. 2) $x_i$ and $w_i$ columns do not correspond to each other in one-to-one sense. Your question is unclear.
  • – ttnphns Oct 03 '15 at 16:27
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    @ttnphns: If only I had one (insert monetary unit of choice) every time someone calls the eigenvectors with their favourite term. – usεr11852 Oct 03 '15 at 20:18