I've read the [PCA documentation](http://scikit-learn.org/stable/modules/generated/sklearn.decomposition.PCA.html
) of scikit-learn.
[…] improve the predictive accuracy of the downstream estimators […]
What is the definition of “downstream” in machine learning?
Best Answer
I know the term "downstream" from neural networks. In those machine learning algorithms, you have so called "neurons" which are usually in form of a DAG. Downstream is everything after a certain neuron. You say neuron y is downstream of neuron x if and only if there is a directed path from x to y.
In a more general setting, I can only guess: y is downstream of x if and only if y uses data processed by x.