def chooseBestFeatureToSplit(dataSet):
    numFeatures = len(dataSet[0]) - 1      #the last column is used for the labels
    baseEntropy = calcShannonEnt(dataSet)
    bestInfoGain = 0.0; bestFeature = -1
    for i in range(numFeatures):        #iterate over all the features
        featList = [example[i] for example in dataSet]#create a list of all the examples of this feature
        uniqueVals = set(featList)       #get a set of unique values
        newEntropy = 0.0
        for value in uniqueVals:
            subDataSet = splitDataSet(dataSet, i, value)
            prob = len(subDataSet)/float(len(dataSet))
            newEntropy += prob * calcShannonEnt(subDataSet)     
        infoGain = baseEntropy - newEntropy     #calculate the info gain; ie reduction in entropy
        if (infoGain > bestInfoGain):       #compare this to the best gain so far
            bestInfoGain = infoGain         #if better than current best, set to best
            bestFeature = i
    return bestFeature                      #returns an integer