In the case I want to predict only ranges from a continuous value, is there any reason to use regression instead of classification ? Could it depend on the type of model I am using (neural network, decision tree, bayesian, ...) ?
Example
Let say I have a dataset with images. Each image has one human on it and is labeled with his/her height. Now I am only interested in predicting height ranges, for instance these four classes [ A, B, C, D ] = [ <150, 150-170, 170-190, >190 ] (in cm). Is there any reason why one of the two following approaches should lead to better performances ?
- case 1: using regression - First create and fit a model that predicts the exact height from an image, then simply gives its associated height range.
- case 2: using classification - First label all the images with the wanted ranges (=classes), then create and fit a classifier to predict this height range.
Note: I am wondering if there is a general answer to this question, not only to this example
EDIT
As @n1tk pointed out, in the post Performance of CNN based deep models with number of classes, the question is answered if we think about increasing the number of classes. In my question, I am wondering about regression vs classification. So try to fit a continuous value vs ranges from this value.