K-Means Clustering Algorithm

Choose a study mode

Play Quiz
Study Flashcards
Spaced Repetition
Chat to Lesson

Podcast

Play an AI-generated podcast conversation about this lesson
Download our mobile app to listen on the go
Get App

Questions and Answers

What is the primary purpose of the K-means algorithm?

  • To reduce the dimensionality of a dataset
  • To cluster similar data points into groups (correct)
  • To identify relationships between variables
  • To classify data into predefined categories

In the K-means algorithm, what is the purpose of the Initialization step?

  • To calculate the distance between data points and centroids
  • To update the centroid of each cluster
  • To assign each data point to a cluster
  • To choose the number of clusters (K) and initialize centroids (correct)

What is the typical distance metric used in the K-means algorithm?

  • Manhattan distance
  • Cosine similarity
  • Minkowski distance
  • Euclidean distance (correct)

What is a key advantage of the K-means algorithm?

<p>It is highly interpretable (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is a limitation of the K-means algorithm?

<p>It is sensitive to initial placement of centroids (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is an application of the K-means algorithm?

<p>Customer segmentation (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the process of assigning each data point to a cluster?

<p>Cluster assignment (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the mean vector of each cluster?

<p>Centroid (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Why is the K-means algorithm scalable to large datasets?

<p>Because it has a computationally efficient iterative process (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is a common limitation of the K-means algorithm?

<p>It assumes spherical clusters (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Flashcards are hidden until you start studying

Study Notes

Clustering: K-means

Definition

  • K-means is a type of unsupervised machine learning algorithm used for clustering data.
  • It groups similar data points into clusters based on their features.

How it Works

  1. Initialization:
    • Choose a value for K (number of clusters).
    • Randomly assign centroids (cluster centers) for each cluster.
  2. Assignment:
    • Calculate the distance between each data point and the centroid of each cluster.
    • Assign each data point to the cluster with the closest centroid.
  3. Update:
    • Calculate the new centroid of each cluster as the mean of all data points assigned to that cluster.
    • Repeat steps 2-3 until convergence or a stopping criterion is reached.

Key Concepts

  • Centroids: The mean vector of each cluster.
  • Cluster assignment: The process of assigning each data point to a cluster.
  • Distance metric: Typically, Euclidean distance is used to calculate the distance between data points and centroids.

Advantages

  • Easy to implement and computationally efficient.
  • Scalable to large datasets.
  • Interpretable results, with clear cluster assignments.

Disadvantages

  • Sensitive to initial placement of centroids.
  • Sensitive to outliers, which can affect centroid calculations.
  • Assumes spherical clusters, which may not always be the case.

Applications

  • Customer segmentation: Clustering customers based on demographics and behavior.
  • Image segmentation: Clustering pixels in an image to identify objects or features.
  • Gene expression analysis: Clustering genes based on their expression levels.

Clustering: K-means

  • A type of unsupervised machine learning algorithm used for clustering data.

How it Works

  • Initialization involves choosing a value for K (number of clusters) and randomly assigning centroids (cluster centers) for each cluster.
  • Assignment involves calculating the distance between each data point and the centroid of each cluster and assigning each data point to the cluster with the closest centroid.
  • Update involves calculating the new centroid of each cluster as the mean of all data points assigned to that cluster, and repeating steps 2-3 until convergence or a stopping criterion is reached.

Key Concepts

  • Centroids are the mean vector of each cluster.
  • Cluster assignment is the process of assigning each data point to a cluster.
  • Distance metric is typically Euclidean distance used to calculate the distance between data points and centroids.

Advantages

  • Easy to implement and computationally efficient.
  • Scalable to large datasets.
  • Interpretable results, with clear cluster assignments.

Disadvantages

  • Sensitive to initial placement of centroids.
  • Sensitive to outliers, which can affect centroid calculations.
  • Assumes spherical clusters, which may not always be the case.

Applications

  • Customer segmentation: Clustering customers based on demographics and behavior.
  • Image segmentation: Clustering pixels in an image to identify objects or features.
  • Gene expression analysis: Clustering genes based on their expression levels.

Studying That Suits You

Use AI to generate personalized quizzes and flashcards to suit your learning preferences.

Quiz Team

More Like This

Use Quizgecko on...
Browser
Browser