title: Survey of clustering algorithms.
abstract: Data analysis plays an indispensable role for understanding various phenomena. Cluster analysis, primitive exploration with little or no prior knowledge, consists of research developed across a wide variety of communities. The diversity, on one hand, equips us with many tools. On the other hand, the profusion of options causes confusion. We survey clustering algorithms for data sets appearing in statistics, computer science, and machine learning, and illustrate their applications in some benchmark data sets, the traveling salesman problem, and bioinformatics, a new field attracting intensive efforts. Several tightly related topics, proximity measure, and cluster validation, are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, MO 65409, USA. rxu@umr.edu
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wunsch
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D009716:Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013269:Stochastic Processes