COMMunication
RESearch.NET

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1. Start by assigning each item to its own cluster, so that if you have N items, you now have N clusters, each containing just one item. Let the distances (similarities) between the clusters equal the distances (similarities) between the items they contain.
2. Find the closest (most similar) pair of clusters and merge them into a single cluster, so that now you have one less cluster.
3. Compute distances (similarities) between the new cluster and each of the old clusters.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all items are clustered into a single cluster of size N.

Step 3 can be done in different ways, which is what distinguishes single-link from complete-link and average-link clustering.

• single-link clustering (also called the connectedness or minimum method) = the shortest distance from any member of one cluster to any member of the other cluster.
• complete-link clustering (also called the diameter or maximum method) = the longest distance from any member of one cluster to any member of the other cluster.
• average-link clustering = the average distance from any member of one cluster to any member of the other cluster.