Can you have negative AIC values?

Can you have negative AIC values?

The absolute values of the AIC scores do not matter. These scores can be negative or positive. In your example, the model with AIC=−237.847 is preferred over the model with AIC=−201.928. You should not care for the absolute values and the sign of AIC scores when comparing models.

Is a negative AIC better than a positive AIC?

The simple answer: The lower the value for AIC, the better the fit of the model. The absolute value of the AIC value is not important. It can be positive or negative. It doesn’t matter if both AIC values are negative.

What does a negative AIC indicate?

Further more it is only meaningful to look at AIC when comparing models! But to answer your question, the lower the AIC the better, and a negative AIC indicates a lower degree of information loss than does a positive (this is also seen if you use the calculations I showed in the above answer, comparing AICs).

What does it mean if my AIC and BIC are negative?

Under the assumption, that both models have the same log likelihood, you obviously want to choose the one with less parameters. And as you can see, it is the one with the smaller AIC (not the one with the smaller absolute value). As with likelihood, the absolute value of AIC is largely meaningless (being determined by the arbitrary constant).

Do you care about absolute values of AIC?

The absolute values of the AIC scores do not matter. These scores can be negative or positive. In your example, the model with $\ext{AIC} = -237.847$ is preferred over the model with $\ext{AIC} = -201.928$. You should not care for the absolute values and the sign of AIC scores when comparing models.

Which is better a positive or negative AIC score?

The absolute values of the AIC scores do not matter. These scores can be negative or positive. In your example, the model with AIC = − 237.847 is preferred over the model with AIC = − 201.928. You should not care for the absolute values and the sign of AIC scores when comparing models.

Which is the best model with the lowest AIC?

For model comparison, the model with the lowest AIC score is preferred. The absolute values of the AIC scores do not matter. These scores can be negative or positive. In your example, the model with AIC = − 237.847 is preferred over the model with AIC = − 201.928.