# Meaning of the variable, num\_private

**URL:** <https://community.drivendata.org/t/meaning-of-the-variable-num-private/2384>\
**Category:** Pump it Up: Data Mining the Water Table\
**Created:** [May 22, 2018, 10:50am UTC](https://community.drivendata.org/t/meaning-of-the-variable-num-private/2384 "2018-05-22T10:50:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Sen](https://community.drivendata.org/u/Sen)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2018, 10:50am UTC](https://community.drivendata.org/t/meaning-of-the-variable-num-private/2384/1 "2018-05-22T10:50:11Z")

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What is the description of the variable, num\_private? It’s not mentioned in the data dictionary. Have you guys ignored it?

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**Author:** ![mdhvince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mdhvince](https://community.drivendata.org/u/mdhvince)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 8:43am UTC](https://community.drivendata.org/t/meaning-of-the-variable-num-private/2384/2 "2018-05-23T08:43:59Z")

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I ignored it 😉 No impact on predictions for me

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**Author:** ![McCloud77](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/community.drivendata.org/mccloud77/32/790_2.png) [@McCloud77](https://community.drivendata.org/u/McCloud77)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://community.drivendata.org/t/meaning-of-the-variable-num-private/2384/3 "2019-03-04T15:50:18Z")

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Not sure what the feature represents but since 99% of the observations are zero (probably meaning missing) it would be safe to drop it.