Cluster analysis or clustering is the task of grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group (called a cluster) are more similar (in some sense) to each other than to those in other groups (clusters). It is a main task of exploratory data mining, and a common technique for statistical data analysis, used in many fields, including machine learning, pattern recognition, image analysis, information retrieval, bioinformatics, data compression, and computer graphics. (Wikipedia)
We also evaluate our algorithm empirically. By leveraging a state-of-the-art nearest-neighbor search library, we obtain a fast and accurate Centroid-Linkage HAC algorithm.
In this paper, we present a comprehensive study of the performance of average-link in metric spaces, regarding several natural criteria that capture separability and cohesion, and aremore interpretable than Dasgupta'scost function and itsvariants.