Clustering Analysis
Identify groups and patterns in data using k-means, hierarchical clustering, and DBSCAN for cluster discovery, customer segmentation, and unsupervised learning
What this skill does
# Clustering Analysis
## Overview
Clustering partitions data into groups of similar observations without pre-defined labels, enabling discovery of natural patterns and structures in data.
## When to Use
- Segmenting customers based on purchasing behavior or demographics
- Discovering natural groupings in data without prior knowledge of categories
- Identifying market segments for targeted marketing campaigns
- Organizing large datasets into meaningful categories for further analysis
- Finding patterns in gene expression data or medical imaging
- Grouping documents, products, or users by similarity for recommendation systems
## Clustering Algorithms
- **K-Means**: Partitioning into k clusters
- **Hierarchical**: Dendrograms showing nested clusters
- **DBSCAN**: Density-based arbitrary-shaped clusters
- **Gaussian Mixture**: Probabilistic clustering
- **Agglomerative**: Bottom-up hierarchical approach
## Key Concepts
- **Cluster Validation**: Metrics to evaluate cluster quality
- **Optimal Clusters**: Methods to determine best k
- **Inertia**: Within-cluster sum of squares
- **Silhouette Score**: Measure of cluster separation
- **Dendrogram**: Hierarchical clustering visualization
## Implementation with Python
```python
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sklearn.cluster import KMeans, DBSCAN, AgglomerativeClustering
from sklearn.mixture import GaussianMixture
from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler
from sklearn.metrics import (
silhouette_score, silhouette_samples, davies_bouldin_score,
calinski_harabasz_score
)
from scipy.cluster.hierarchy import dendrogram, linkage
import seaborn as sns
# Generate sample data
np.random.seed(42)
n_samples = 300
centers = [[0, 0], [5, 5], [-3, 4]]
X = np.vstack([
np.random.randn(100, 2) + centers[0],
np.random.randn(100, 2) + centers[1],
np.random.randn(100, 2) + centers[2],
])
# Standardize
scaler = StandardScaler()
X_scaled = scaler.fit_transform(X)
# K-Means with Elbow method
inertias = []
silhouette_scores = []
k_range = range(2, 11)
for k in k_range:
kmeans = KMeans(n_clusters=k, random_state=42, n_init=10)
kmeans.fit(X_scaled)
inertias.append(kmeans.inertia_)
silhouette_scores.append(silhouette_score(X_scaled, kmeans.labels_))
fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(14, 4))
axes[0].plot(k_range, inertias, 'bo-')
axes[0].set_xlabel('Number of Clusters (k)')
axes[0].set_ylabel('Inertia')
axes[0].set_title('Elbow Method')
axes[0].grid(True, alpha=0.3)
axes[1].plot(k_range, silhouette_scores, 'go-')
axes[1].set_xlabel('Number of Clusters (k)')
axes[1].set_ylabel('Silhouette Score')
axes[1].set_title('Silhouette Analysis')
axes[1].grid(True, alpha=0.3)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()
# Optimal k = 3
optimal_k = 3
kmeans = KMeans(n_clusters=optimal_k, random_state=42, n_init=10)
kmeans_labels = kmeans.fit_predict(X_scaled)
# K-Means visualization
fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 3, figsize=(15, 4))
# K-Means clusters
axes[0].scatter(X[:, 0], X[:, 1], c=kmeans_labels, cmap='viridis', alpha=0.6)
axes[0].scatter(
kmeans.cluster_centers_[:, 0], kmeans.cluster_centers_[:, 1],
c='red', marker='X', s=200, edgecolors='black', linewidths=2
)
axes[0].set_title(f'K-Means (k={optimal_k})')
axes[0].set_xlabel('Feature 1')
axes[0].set_ylabel('Feature 2')
# Silhouette plot
ax = axes[1]
y_lower = 10
silhouette_vals = silhouette_samples(X_scaled, kmeans_labels)
for i in range(optimal_k):
cluster_silhouette_vals = silhouette_vals[kmeans_labels == i]
cluster_silhouette_vals.sort()
size_cluster_i = cluster_silhouette_vals.shape[0]
y_upper = y_lower + size_cluster_i
ax.fill_betweenx(np.arange(y_lower, y_upper),
0, cluster_silhouette_vals,
alpha=0.7, label=f'Cluster {i}')
y_lower = y_upper + 10
ax.axvline(x=silhouette_score(X_scaled, kmeans_labels), color="red", linestyle="--")
ax.set_xlabel('Silhouette Coefficient')
ax.set_ylabel('Cluster Label')
ax.set_title('Silhouette Plot')
# Hierarchical clustering
linkage_matrix = linkage(X_scaled, method='ward')
dendrogram(linkage_matrix, ax=axes[2], truncate_mode='lastp', p=10)
axes[2].set_title('Dendrogram (Ward)')
axes[2].set_xlabel('Sample Index')
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()
# Hierarchical clustering
hierarchical = AgglomerativeClustering(n_clusters=optimal_k, linkage='ward')
hier_labels = hierarchical.fit_predict(X_scaled)
# DBSCAN clustering
dbscan = DBSCAN(eps=0.4, min_samples=5)
dbscan_labels = dbscan.fit_predict(X_scaled)
n_clusters_dbscan = len(set(dbscan_labels)) - (1 if -1 in dbscan_labels else 0)
n_noise = list(dbscan_labels).count(-1)
# Gaussian Mixture Model
gmm = GaussianMixture(n_components=optimal_k, random_state=42)
gmm_labels = gmm.fit_predict(X_scaled)
gmm_proba = gmm.predict_proba(X_scaled)
# Clustering algorithm comparison
fig, axes = plt.subplots(2, 2, figsize=(12, 10))
algorithms = [
(kmeans_labels, 'K-Means'),
(hier_labels, 'Hierarchical'),
(dbscan_labels, 'DBSCAN'),
(gmm_labels, 'Gaussian Mixture'),
]
for idx, (labels, title) in enumerate(algorithms):
ax = axes[idx // 2, idx % 2]
# Skip noise points for DBSCAN
mask = labels != -1
scatter = ax.scatter(
X[mask, 0], X[mask, 1], c=labels[mask], cmap='viridis', alpha=0.6
)
if title == 'DBSCAN' and n_noise > 0:
noise_mask = labels == -1
ax.scatter(X[noise_mask, 0], X[noise_mask, 1], c='red', marker='x', s=100, label='Noise')
ax.legend()
ax.set_title(f'{title} (n_clusters={len(set(labels[mask]))})')
ax.set_xlabel('Feature 1')
ax.set_ylabel('Feature 2')
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()
# Cluster validation metrics
validation_metrics = {
'Algorithm': ['K-Means', 'Hierarchical', 'DBSCAN', 'GMM'],
'Silhouette Score': [
silhouette_score(X_scaled, kmeans_labels),
silhouette_score(X_scaled, hier_labels),
silhouette_score(X_scaled[dbscan_labels != -1], dbscan_labels[dbscan_labels != -1]) if n_noise < len(X_scaled) else np.nan,
silhouette_score(X_scaled, gmm_labels),
],
'Davies-Bouldin Index': [
davies_bouldin_score(X_scaled, kmeans_labels),
davies_bouldin_score(X_scaled, hier_labels),
davies_bouldin_score(X_scaled[dbscan_labels != -1], dbscan_labels[dbscan_labels != -1]) if n_noise < len(X_scaled) else np.nan,
davies_bouldin_score(X_scaled, gmm_labels),
],
'Calinski-Harabasz Index': [
calinski_harabasz_score(X_scaled, kmeans_labels),
calinski_harabasz_score(X_scaled, hier_labels),
calinski_harabasz_score(X_scaled[dbscan_labels != -1], dbscan_labels[dbscan_labels != -1]) if n_noise < len(X_scaled) else np.nan,
calinski_harabasz_score(X_scaled, gmm_labels),
],
}
metrics_df = pd.DataFrame(validation_metrics)
print("Clustering Validation Metrics:")
print(metrics_df)
# Cluster size analysis
sizes_df = pd.DataFrame({
'K-Means': pd.Series(kmeans_labels).value_counts().sort_index(),
'Hierarchical': pd.Series(hier_labels).value_counts().sort_index(),
'GMM': pd.Series(gmm_labels).value_counts().sort_index(),
})
print("\nCluster Sizes:")
print(sizes_df)
# Membership probability (GMM)
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 6))
membership = gmm_proba.max(axis=1)
scatter = ax.scatter(X[:, 0], X[:, 1], c=membership, cmap='RdYlGn', alpha=0.6, s=50)
ax.set_title('Cluster Membership Confidence (GMM)')
ax.set_xlabel('Feature 1')
ax.set_ylabel('Feature 2')
plt.colorbar(scatter, ax=ax, label='Membership Probability')
plt.show()
# Cluster characteristics
kmeans_centers_original = scaler.inverse_transform(kmeans.cluster_centers_)
cluster_df = pd.DataFrame(X, columns=['Feature 1', 'Feature 2'])
cluster_df['Cluster'] = kmeans_labels
for cluster_id in range(optimal_k):
cluster_data = cluster_df[cluster_df['Cluster'] == cluster_id]
print(f"\nCluster {cluster_id} Characteristics:")
print(cluster_data[['Feature 1', 'Feature 2']].describe())
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