Comparing Distance Measurements with Python and SciPy

Clustering, or cluster analysis, is used for analyzing data which does not include pre-labeled classes. Data instances are grouped together using the concept of maximizing intraclass similarity and minimizing the similarity between differing classes. This translates to the clustering algorithm identifying and grouping instances which are very similar, as opposed to ungrouped instances which are much less-similar to one another. As clustering does not require the pre-labeling of classes, it is a form of unsupervised learning. At the core of cluster analysis is the concept of measuring distances between a variety of different data point dimensions.