#
# Abalone
#   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).
#
#   Data comes from an original (non-machine-learning) study:
#
#	Warwick J Nash, Tracy L Sellers, Simon R Talbot, Andrew J Cawthorn and
#	Wes B Ford (1994) "The Population Biology of Abalone (_Haliotis_
#	species) in Tasmania. I. Blacklip Abalone (_H. rubra_) from the North
#	Coast and Islands of Bass Strait", Sea Fisheries Division, Technical
#	Report No. 48 (ISSN 1034-3288)

Title: UCI Abalone Database. Predict number of rings (age) of abalone from physical measurements

7. 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