Database Reference
In-Depth Information
In the first case, ideally the plot would look like the one shown in
Figure 4.7
, when
n = 2. The clusters are well defined, with considerable space between the four
identified clusters. However, in other cases, such as
Figure 4.8
, the clusters may be
close to each other, and the distinction may not be so obvious.
Figure 4.7
Example of distinct clusters
Figure 4.8
Example of less obvious clusters
In such cases, it is important to apply some judgment on whether anything
different will result by using more clusters. For example,
Figure 4.9
uses six
clusters to describe the same dataset as used in
Figure 4.8
. If using more clusters
does not better distinguish the groups, it is almost certainly better to go with fewer
clusters.
