Chapter 8. Cluster Analysis
A clustering algorithm is one that identifies groups of data points according to their proximity to each other. These algorithms are similar to classification algorithms in that they also partition a dataset into subsets of similar points. But, in classification, we already have data whose classes have been identified. such as sweet fruit. In clustering, we seek to discover the unknown groups themselves.
Measuring distances
A metric
on a set S of points is a function 
that satisfies these conditions for all x,y,z
∈
S:
- d(p,q) = 0 ⇔ p=q
- d(p,q) = d(p,q)
- d(p,q) ≤ d(p,r)+d(r,q)
Normally, we think of the number d(p,q) as the distance ...
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