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March 2002

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Subject:
From:
Herriton <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Classification, clustering, and phylogeny estimation
Date:
Fri, 8 Mar 2002 10:57:01 -0500
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I have a question on how to compare dendrograms:

I have two dendrograms using two different sets of data.  They both have
very similar clustering, say, clusters A, B, and C.  The difference lies in
the distance between the members of each cluster.  Say, in cluster A, the
distance between the members in one dendrogram is on average larger.

I used Euclidean distance and Ward linkage.

Is one dendrogram "better" than the other?  That is, if the distance between
the members of a cluster is on average shorter in one dendrogram, does that
mean the data used for this dendrogram cluster better?

I'm not very familiar with clustering algorithms in general.  Pointers and
comments are much appreciated.

Philip

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