K-means is a popular clustering algorithm used in data analysis and machine learning. It's particularly useful for partitioning a dataset into K distinct, non-overlapping subgroups (clusters) where each data point belongs to the cluster with the nearest mean.
The algorithm is relatively straightforward and can be summarized in the following steps:
- Initialization: Choose K initial centroids (the means) randomly from the data points. These centroids are the initial "centers" of the clusters.
- Assignment Step: Assign each data point to the nearest centroid. The 'nearest' is typically determined by the distance between a data point and a centroid. The most common distance metric used is the Euclidean distance.
- Update Step: Recalculate the centroids as the mean of all data points assigned to that centroid's cluster.
- Iterative Process: Repeat the Assignment and Update steps until the centroids no longer change significantly, indicating that the algorithm has converged.
- Output: The final output is the assignment of each data point to a cluster.
Key points about K-means:
- Number of Clusters (K): The number of clusters (K) needs to be specified in advance. Choosing the right K can be non-trivial and is often done using methods like the Elbow Method, Silhouette Method, or other heuristic approaches.
- Sensitivity to Initial Centroids: The initial choice of centroids can affect the final outcome. Hence, K-means is often run multiple times with different initializations.
- Convergence and Local Minima: K-means will converge, but it may converge to a local minimum. This is another reason why the algorithm is run multiple times.
- Suitability for Spherical Clusters: K-means works well when clusters are spherical and of similar size. It may not perform well with clusters of different shapes and sizes.
- Scalability: There are variations like K-means++ for better initialization and Mini-Batch K-means for large datasets, which make the algorithm more efficient and scalable.
K-means is widely used across various fields for exploratory data analysis, pattern recognition, image compression, and more. However, it's important to understand its limitations and ensure that it's appropriate for the specific characteristics of the data at hand.
