Unit-IV: Frequent Itemsets and

Clustering
1 Mining Frequent Itemsets

Frequent itemset mining is a popular data mining task that involves identifying sets of items that frequently

co-occur in a given dataset. In other words, it involves finding the items that occur together frequently and

then grouping them into sets of items. One way to approach this problem is by using the Apriori algorithm,

which is one of the most widely used algorithms for frequent itemset mining.

The Apriori algorithm works by iteratively generating candidate itemsets and then checking their fre-

quency against a minimum support threshold. The algorithm starts by generating all possible itemsets of

size 1 and counting their frequencies in the dataset. The itemsets that meet the minimum support threshold

are then selected as frequent itemsets. The algorithm then proceeds to generate candidate itemsets of size

2 from the frequent itemsets of size 1 and counts their frequencies. This process is repeated until no more

frequent itemsets can be generated.

However, when dealing with large datasets, this approach can become computationally expensive due
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to the potentially large number of candidate itemsets that need to be generated and counted. Point-wise
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frequent itemset mining is a more efficient alternative that can reduce the computational complexity of the

Apriori algorithm by exploiting the sparsity of the dataset.

Point-wise frequent itemset mining works by iterating over the transactions in the dataset and identifying

the itemsets that occur in each transaction. For each transaction, the algorithm generates a bitmap vector

where each bit corresponds to an item in the dataset, and its value is set to 1 if the item occurs in the

transaction and 0 otherwise. The algorithm then performs a bitwise AND operation between the bitmap

vectors of each transaction to identify the itemsets that occur in all the transactions. The itemsets that meet

the minimum support threshold are then selected as frequent itemsets.

The advantage of point-wise frequent itemset mining is that it avoids generating candidate itemsets that

are not present in the dataset, thereby reducing the number of itemsets that need to be generated and

counted. Additionally, point-wise frequent itemset mining can be parallelized, making it suitable for mining

large datasets on distributed systems.

In summary, point-wise frequent itemset mining is an efficient alternative to the Apriori algorithm for

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frequent itemset mining. It works by iterating over the transactions in the dataset and identifying the

itemsets that occur in each transaction, thereby avoiding the generation of candidate itemsets that are not

present in the dataset.

2 Market Based Modelling

Market-based modeling is a technique used in economics and business to analyze and simulate the behavior of

markets, particularly in relation to the supply and demand of goods and services. This modeling technique

involves creating mathematical models that can simulate how different market participants (consumers,

producers, and intermediaries) interact with each other in a market setting.

One of the most common market-based models is the supply and demand model, which assumes that the

price of a good or service is determined by the balance between its supply and demand. In this model, the

price of a good or service will rise if the demand for it exceeds its supply, and will fall if the supply exceeds

the demand.

Another popular market-based model is the game theory model, which is used to analyze how different

participants in a market interact with each other. Game theory models assume that market participants are
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rational and act in their own self-interest, and seek to identify the strategies that each participant is likely
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to adopt in a given situation.

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Market-based models can be used to analyze a wide range of economic phenomena, from the pricing

of individual goods and services to the behavior of entire industries and markets. They can also be used

to test the potential impact of various policies and interventions on the behavior of markets and market

participants.

Overall, market-based modeling is a powerful tool for understanding and predicting the behavior of

markets and the economy as a whole. By creating mathematical models that simulate the behavior of

market participants and the interactions between them, economists and business analysts can gain valuable

insights into the workings of markets, and develop strategies for managing and optimizing their performance.

3 Apriori Algorithm

The Apriori algorithm is a popular algorithm used in data mining and machine learning to discover frequent

itemsets in large transactional datasets. It was proposed by Agrawal and Srikant in 1994 and is widely used

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in association rule mining, market basket analysis, and other data mining applications.

The Apriori algorithm uses a bottom-up approach to generate all frequent itemsets by first identifying

frequent individual items and then using those items to generate larger itemsets. The algorithm works by

performing the following steps:

ˆ First, the algorithm scans the entire dataset to identify all individual items and their frequency of

occurrence. This information is used to generate the initial set of frequent itemsets.

ˆ Next, the algorithm uses a level-wise search strategy to generate larger itemsets by combining fre-

quent itemsets from the previous level. The algorithm starts with two-itemsets and then progressively

generates larger itemsets until no more frequent itemsets can be found.

ˆ At each level, the algorithm prunes the search space by eliminating itemsets that cannot be frequent

based on the minimum support threshold. This is done using the Apriori principle, which states that

any subset of a frequent itemset must also be frequent.

The algorithm terminates when no more frequent itemsets can be generated or when the maximum

itemset size is reached.

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Once all frequent itemsets have been identified, the Apriori algorithm can be used to generate association
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rules that describe the relationships between different items in the dataset. An association rule is a statement
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of the form X − > Y, where X and Y are itemsets and X is a subset of Y. The rule indicates that there is a

strong relationship between items in X and items in Y.

The strength of an association rule is measured using two metrics: support and confidence. Support is

the percentage of transactions in the dataset that contain both X and Y, while confidence is the percentage

of transactions that contain Y given that they also contain X.

Overall, the Apriori algorithm is a powerful tool for discovering frequent itemsets and association rules

in large datasets. By identifying patterns and relationships between different items in the dataset, it can

be used to gain valuable insights into consumer behavior, market trends, and other important business and

economic phenomena.

4 Handling Large Datasets in Main Memory

Handling large datasets in main memory can be a challenging task, as the amount of memory available on

most computer systems is often limited. However, there are several techniques and strategies that can be

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used to effectively manage and analyze large datasets in main memory:

ˆ Use data compression: Data compression techniques can be used to reduce the amount of memory

required to store a dataset. Techniques such as gzip or bzip2 can compress text data, while binary

data can be compressed using libraries like LZ4 or Snappy.

ˆ Use data partitioning: Large datasets can be partitioned into smaller, more manageable subsets,

which can be processed and analyzed in main memory. This can be done using techniques such as

horizontal partitioning, vertical partitioning, or hybrid partitioning.

ˆ Use data sampling: Data sampling can be used to select a representative subset of data for analysis,

without requiring the entire dataset to be loaded into memory. Random sampling, stratified sampling,

and cluster sampling are some of the commonly used sampling techniques.

ˆ Use in-memory databases: In-memory databases can be used to store large datasets in main

memory for faster querying and analysis. Examples of in-memory databases include Apache Ignite,

SAP HANA, and VoltDB.

ˆ Use parallel processing: Parallel processing techniques can be used to distribute the processing of
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large datasets across multiple processors or cores. This can be done using libraries like Apache Spark,
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which provides distributed data processing capabilities.

ˆ Use data streaming: Data streaming techniques can be used to process large datasets in real-time

by processing data as it is generated, rather than storing it in memory. Apache Kafka, Apache Flink,

and Apache Storm are some of the popular data streaming platforms.

Overall, effective management of large datasets in main memory requires a combination of data compres-

sion, partitioning, sampling, in-memory databases, parallel processing, and data streaming techniques. By

leveraging these techniques, it is possible to effectively analyze and process large datasets in main memory,

without requiring expensive hardware upgrades or specialized software tools.

5 Limited Pass Algorithm

A limited pass algorithm is a technique used in data processing and analysis to efficiently process large

datasets with limited memory resources.

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 In a limited pass algorithm, the dataset is processed in a fixed number of passes or iterations, where each

pass involves processing a subset of the data. The algorithm ensures that each pass is designed to capture

the relevant information needed for the analysis, while minimizing the memory required to store the data.

For example, a limited pass algorithm for processing a large text file could involve reading the file in chunks

or sections, processing each section in memory, and then discarding the processed data before moving onto

the next section. This approach enables the algorithm to handle large datasets that cannot be loaded entirely

into memory.

Limited pass algorithms are often used in situations where the data cannot be stored in main memory,

or when the processing of the data requires significant computational resources. Examples of applications

that use limited pass algorithms include text processing, machine learning, and data mining.

While limited pass algorithms can be useful for processing large datasets with limited memory resources,

they can also be less efficient than algorithms that can process the entire dataset in a single pass. Therefore,

it is important to carefully design the algorithm to ensure that it can capture the relevant information needed

for the analysis, while minimizing the number of passes required to process the data.

6 Counting Frequent Itemsets in a Stream

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Counting frequent itemsets in a stream is a problem of finding the most frequent itemsets in a continuous
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stream of transactions. This problem is commonly known as the Frequent Itemset Mining problem. Here

are the steps involved in counting frequent itemsets in a stream:

1. Initialize a hash table to store the counts of each itemset. The size of the hash table should be limited

to prevent it from becoming too large.

2. Read each transaction in the stream one at a time.

3. Generate all the possible itemsets from the transaction. This can be done using the Apriori algorithm,

which generates candidate itemsets by combining smaller frequent itemsets.

4. Increment the count of each itemset in the hash table.

5. Prune infrequent itemsets from the hash table. An itemset is infrequent if its count is less than a

predefined threshold.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 for each transaction in the stream.

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 7. Output the frequent itemsets that remain in the hash table after processing all the transactions.

The main challenge in counting frequent itemsets in a stream is to keep track of the changing frequencies

of the itemsets as new transactions arrive. This can be done efficiently using the hash table to store the

counts of the itemsets. However, the hash table can become too large if the number of distinct itemsets is

too large. To prevent this, the hash table can be limited in size by using a hash function that maps each

itemset to a fixed number of hash buckets. The size of the hash table can be adjusted dynamically based on

the number of items and transactions in the stream.

Another challenge in counting frequent itemsets in a stream is to choose the threshold for the minimum

count of an itemset to be considered frequent. The threshold should be set high enough to exclude infrequent

itemsets, but low enough to include all the important frequent itemsets. The threshold can be determined

using heuristics or by using machine learning techniques to learn the optimal threshold from the data.

7 Clustering Techniques

Clustering techniques are used to group similar data points together in a dataset based on their similarity

or distance measures. Here are some popular clustering techniques:

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7.1 K-Means Clustering:

This is a popular clustering algorithm that partitions a dataset into K clusters based on the mean dis-

tance of the data points to their assigned cluster centers. It involves an iterative process of assigning data

points to clusters and updating the cluster centers until convergence. K-Means is commonly used in image

segmentation, marketing, and customer segmentation.

7.1.1 K-means Clustering algorithm

K-Means clustering is a popular unsupervised machine learning algorithm that partitions a dataset into k

clusters, where k is a pre-defined number of clusters. The algorithm works as follows:

ˆ Initialize the k cluster centroids randomly.

ˆ Assign each data point to the nearest cluster centroid based on its distance.

ˆ Calculate the new cluster centroids based on the mean of all data points assigned to that cluster.

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 ˆ Repeat steps 2-3 until the cluster centroids no longer change significantly, or a maximum number of

iterations is reached.

ˆ The distance metric used for step 2 is typically the Euclidean distance, but other distance metrics can

be used as well.

ˆ The K-Means algorithm aims to minimize the sum of squared distances between each data point and

its assigned cluster centroid. This objective function is known as the within-cluster sum of squares

(WCSS) or the sum of squared errors (SSE).

ˆ To determine the optimal number of clusters, a common approach is to use the elbow method. This

involves plotting the WCSS or SSE against the number of clusters and selecting the number of clusters

at the ”elbow” point, where the rate of decrease in WCSS or SSE begins to level off.

K-Means is a computationally efficient algorithm that can scale to large datasets. It is particularly useful

when the data is high-dimensional and traditional clustering algorithms may be too slow. However, K-Means

requires the number of clusters to be pre-defined and may converge to a suboptimal solution if the initial

cluster centroids are not well chosen. It is also sensitive to non-linear data and may not work well with such
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data. Here are some of its advantages and disadvantages:

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 Advantages: Disadvantages:

ˆ Simple and easy to understand: K-Means is ˆ Requires pre-defined number of clusters: K-

easy to understand and implement, making it Means requires the number of clusters to be

a popular choice for clustering tasks. pre-defined, which can be a challenge when the

number of clusters is unknown or difficult to

ˆ Fast and scalable: K-Means is a computation-
determine.
ally efficient algorithm that can scale to large

datasets. It is particularly useful when the data ˆ Sensitive to initial cluster centers: K-Means is

is high-dimensional and traditional clustering sensitive to the initial placement of cluster cen-

algorithms may be too slow. ters and can converge to a suboptimal solution

if the initial centers are not well chosen.

ˆ Works well with circular or spherical clusters:

K-Means works well with circular or spherical ˆ Can converge to a local minimum: K-Means

clusters, making it suitable for datasets that ex- can converge to a local minimum rather than

hibit these types of shapes. the global minimum, resulting in a suboptimal

clustering solution.
ˆ Provides a clear and interpretable result: K-
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Means provides a clear and interpretable clus- ˆ Not suitable for non-linear data: K-Means as-
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tering result, where each data point is assigned sumes that the data is linearly separable and
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to one of the k clusters. may not work well with non-linear data.

In summary, K-Means is a simple and fast clustering algorithm that works well with circular or spherical

clusters. However, it requires the number of clusters to be pre-defined and may converge to a suboptimal

solution if the initial cluster centers are not well chosen. It is also sensitive to non-linear data and may not

work well with such data.

7.2 Hierarchical Clustering:

This technique builds a hierarchy of clusters by recursively dividing or merging clusters based on their

similarity. It can be agglomerative (bottom-up) or divisive (top-down). In agglomerative clustering, each

data point starts in its own cluster, and then pairs of clusters are successively merged until all data points

belong to a single cluster. Divisive clustering starts with all data points in a single cluster and recursively

divides them into smaller clusters. Hierarchical clustering is useful in gene expression analysis, social network

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analysis, and image analysis.

7.3 Density-based Clustering:

This technique identifies clusters based on the density of data points. It assumes that clusters are areas of

higher density separated by areas of lower density. Density-based clustering algorithms, such as DBSCAN

(Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise), group together data points that are closely

packed together and separate outliers. Density-based clustering is commonly used in image processing,

geospatial data analysis, and anomaly detection.

7.4 Gaussian Mixture Models:

This technique models the distribution of data points using a mixture of Gaussian probability distributions.

Each component of the mixture represents a cluster, and the algorithm estimates the parameters of the

mixture using the Expectation-Maximization algorithm. Gaussian Mixture Models are commonly used in

image segmentation, handwriting recognition, and speech recognition.

7.5 Spectral Clustering:

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This technique converts the data points into a graph and then partitions the graph into clusters based
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on the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the graph Laplacian matrix. Spectral clustering is useful in image

segmentation, community detection in social networks, and document clustering.

Each clustering technique has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the choice of clustering algorithm

depends on the nature of the data, the clustering objective, and the computational resources available.

8 Clustering high-dimensional data

Clustering high-dimensional data is a challenging task because the distance or similarity measures used in

most clustering algorithms become less meaningful in high-dimensional space. Here are some techniques for

clustering high-dimensional data:

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8.1 Dimensionality Reduction:

High-dimensional data can be transformed into a lower-dimensional space using dimensionality reduction

techniques, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) or t-SNE (t-distributed Stochastic Neighbor Em-

bedding). Dimensionality reduction can help to reduce the curse of dimensionality and make the clustering

algorithms more effective.

8.2 Feature Selection:

Not all features in high-dimensional data are equally informative. Feature selection techniques can be used

to identify the most relevant features for clustering and discard the redundant or noisy features. This can

help to improve the clustering accuracy and reduce the computational cost.

8.3 Subspace Clustering:

Subspace clustering is a clustering technique that identifies clusters in subspaces of the high-dimensional

space. This technique assumes that the data points lie in a union of subspaces, each of which represents

a cluster. Subspace clustering algorithms, such as CLIQUE (CLustering In QUEst), identify the subspaces
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and clusters simultaneously.

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8.4 Density-Based Clustering:

Density-based clustering algorithms, such as DBSCAN, can be used for clustering high-dimensional data by

defining the density of data points in each dimension. The clustering algorithm identifies regions of high

density in the multidimensional space, which correspond to clusters.

8.5 Ensemble Clustering:

Ensemble clustering combines multiple clustering algorithms or different parameter settings of the same

algorithm to improve the clustering performance. Ensemble clustering can help to reduce the sensitivity of

the clustering results to the choice of algorithm or parameter settings.

8.6 Deep Learning-Based Clustering:

Deep learning-based clustering techniques, such as Deep Embedded Clustering (DEC) and Autoencoder-

based Clustering (AE-Clustering), use neural networks to learn a low-dimensional representation of high-

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dimensional data and cluster the data in the reduced space. These techniques have shown promising results in

clustering high-dimensional data in various domains, including image analysis and gene expression analysis.

Clustering high-dimensional data requires careful consideration of the choice of clustering algorithm,

feature selection or dimensionality reduction technique, and parameter settings. A combination of different

techniques may be required to achieve the best clustering performance.

8.7 CLIQUE and ProCLUS

CLIQUE (CLustering In QUEst) and ProCLUS are two popular subspace clustering algorithms for high-

dimensional data.

CLIQUE is a density-based algorithm that works by identifying dense subspaces in the data. It assumes

that clusters exist in subspaces of the data that are dense in at least k dimensions, where k is a user-defined

parameter. The algorithm identifies all possible dense subspaces by enumerating all combinations of k

dimensions and checking if the corresponding subspaces are dense. It then merges the overlapping subspaces

to form clusters. CLIQUE is efficient for high-dimensional data because it only considers a small number of

dimensions at a time.

ProCLUS (PROjective CLUSters) is a subspace clustering algorithm that works by identifying clusters
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in a low-dimensional projection of the data. It first selects a random projection matrix and projects the data
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onto a lower-dimensional space. It then uses K-Means clustering to cluster the projected data. The algorithm

iteratively refines the projection matrix and re-clusters the data until convergence. The final clusters are

projected back to the original high-dimensional space. ProCLUS is effective for high-dimensional data

because it reduces the dimensionality of the data while preserving the clustering structure.

Both CLIQUE and ProCLUS are designed to handle high-dimensional data by identifying clusters in

subspaces of the data. They are effective for clustering data that have a natural subspace structure. However,

they may not work well for data that do not have a clear subspace structure or when the data points are

widely spread out in the high-dimensional space. It is important to carefully choose the appropriate algorithm

based on the characteristics of the data and the clustering objectives.

9 Frequent pattern-based clustering methods

Frequent pattern-based clustering methods combine frequent pattern mining with clustering techniques to

identify clusters based on frequent patterns in the data. Here are some examples of frequent pattern-based

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clustering methods:

1. Frequent Pattern-based Clustering: is a clustering algorithm that uses frequent pattern mining to

identify clusters in transactional data. The algorithm first identifies frequent itemsets in the data

using Apriori or FP-Growth algorithms. It then constructs a graph where each frequent itemset is a

node, and the edges represent the overlap between the itemsets. The graph is partitioned into clusters

using a graph clustering algorithm. The resulting clusters are then used to assign objects to clusters

based on their membership in the frequent itemsets.

2. Frequent Pattern-based Clustering Method: is a clustering algorithm that uses frequent pattern mining

to identify clusters in high-dimensional data. The algorithm first discretizes the continuous data into

categorical data. It then uses Apriori or FP-Growth algorithms to identify frequent itemsets in the

categorical data. The frequent itemsets are used to construct a binary matrix that represents the

membership of objects in the frequent itemsets. The binary matrix is clustered using a standard

clustering algorithm, such as K-Means or Hierarchical clustering. The resulting clusters are then used

to assign objects to clusters based on their membership in the frequent itemsets.

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3. Clustering based on Frequent Pattern Combination: is a clustering algorithm that combines frequent
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pattern mining with pattern combination techniques to identify clusters in transactional data. The
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algorithm first identifies frequent itemsets in the data using Apriori or FP-Growth algorithms. It

then uses pattern combination techniques, such as Minimum Description Length (MDL) or Bayesian

Information Criterion (BIC), to generate composite patterns from the frequent itemsets. The composite

patterns are then used to construct a graph, which is partitioned into clusters using a graph clustering

algorithm.

Frequent pattern-based clustering methods are effective for identifying clusters based on frequent patterns

in the data. They can be applied to a wide range of data types, including transactional data and high-

dimensional data. However, these methods may suffer from the curse of dimensionality when applied to

high-dimensional data. It is important to carefully select the appropriate frequent pattern mining and

clustering techniques based on the characteristics of the data and the clustering objectives.

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10 Clustering in non-Euclidean space

Clustering in non-Euclidean space refers to the clustering of data points that are not represented in the

Euclidean space, such as graphs, time series, or text data. Traditional clustering algorithms, such as K-

Means and Hierarchical clustering, assume that the data points are represented in the Euclidean space and

use distance metrics, such as Euclidean distance or cosine similarity, to measure the similarity between data

points. However, in non-Euclidean spaces, the notion of distance is different, and distance-based clustering

methods may not be suitable.

Here are some approaches for clustering in non-Euclidean spaces:

1. Spectral clustering: Spectral clustering is a popular clustering algorithm that can be applied to data

represented in non-Euclidean spaces, such as graphs or time series. It uses the eigenvalues and eigen-

vectors of the Laplacian matrix of the data to identify clusters. Spectral clustering converts the data

points into a graph representation and then computes the Laplacian matrix of the graph. The eigen-

vectors of the Laplacian matrix are used to embed the data points into a lower-dimensional space,

where clustering is performed using a standard clustering algorithm, such as K-Means or Hierarchical

clustering.
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2. Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise: is a density-based clustering algorithm

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that can be applied to data represented in non-Euclidean spaces. It does not rely on a distance

metric and can cluster data points based on their density. DBSCAN identifies clusters by defining two

parameters: the minimum number of points required to form a cluster and a radius that determines

the neighborhood of a point. DBSCAN labels each point as either a core point, a border point, or a

noise point, based on its neighborhood. The core points are used to form clusters.

3. Topic modeling: Topic modeling is a clustering method that can be applied to text data, which is

typically represented in a non-Euclidean space. Topic modeling identifies latent topics in the text data

by analyzing the co-occurrence of words. It represents each document as a distribution over topics,

and each topic as a distribution over words. The resulting topic distribution of each document can be

used to cluster the documents based on their similarity.

Clustering in non-Euclidean spaces requires careful consideration of the appropriate algorithms and tech-

niques that are suitable for the specific data type. Spectral clustering and DBSCAN are effective for clustering

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data represented as graphs or time series, while topic modeling is suitable for text data. Other approaches,

such as manifold learning and kernel methods, can also be used for clustering in non-Euclidean spaces.

11 Clustering for streams and parallelism

Clustering for streams and parallelism are two important considerations for clustering large datasets. Stream

data refers to data that arrives continuously and in real-time, while parallelism refers to the ability to

distribute the clustering task across multiple computing resources.

Here are some approaches for clustering streams and parallelism:

1. Online clustering: Online clustering is a technique that can be applied to streaming data. It updates

the clustering model continuously as new data arrives. Online clustering algorithms, such as BIRCH

and CluStream, are designed to handle data streams and can scale to large datasets. These algo-

rithms incrementally update the cluster model as new data arrives and discard outdated data points

to maintain the cluster model’s accuracy and efficiency.

2. Parallel clustering: Parallel clustering refers to the use of multiple computing resources, such as multiple
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processors or computing clusters, to speed up the clustering process. Parallel clustering algorithms,
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such as K-Means Parallel, Hierarchical Parallel, and DBSCAN Parallel, distribute the clustering task
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across multiple computing resources. These algorithms partition the data into smaller subsets and

assign each subset to a separate computing resource. The resulting clusters are then merged to produce

the final clustering result.

3. Distributed clustering: Distributed clustering refers to the use of multiple computing resources that

are distributed across different physical locations, such as different data centers or cloud resources.

Distributed clustering algorithms, such as MapReduce and Hadoop, distribute the clustering task

across multiple computing resources and handle data that is too large to fit into a single computing

resource’s memory. These algorithms partition the data into smaller subsets and assign each subset to

a separate computing resource. The resulting clusters are then merged to produce the final clustering

result.

Clustering for streams and parallelism requires careful consideration of the appropriate algorithms and

techniques that are suitable for the specific clustering objectives and data types. Online clustering is effective

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for clustering streaming data, while parallel clustering and distributed clustering can speed up the clustering

process for large datasets.

Q1: Write R function to check whether the given number is prime or not.

# Program to check if the input number is prime or not

# take input from the user

num = as.integer(readline(prompt=”Enter a number: ”))

flag = 0

# prime numbers are greater than 1 if(num ¿ 1)

# check for factors flag = 1

for(i in 2:(num-1)) {

if ((num %% i) == 0)

flag = 0

break

}
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if(num == 2) flag = 1
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if(flag == 1)

print(paste(num,”is a prime number”))

else

print(paste(num,”is not a prime number”))

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 Apriori algorithm:—The apriori algorithm solves the frequent item sets problem. The algorithm ana-

lyzes a data set to determine which combinations of items occur together frequently. The Apriori algorithm

is at the core of various algorithms for data mining problems. The best known problem is finding the asso-

ciation rules that hold in a basket -item relation.

Numerical:

Given:

Support = 60% = 60/100 ∗ 5 = 3

Conf idence = 70%

ITERATION:1
STEP 1: (C1)
ITERATION 2:
Itemsets Counts STEP 3: (C2)
A 1 Itemsets Counts
C 2 STEP 2: (L2) STEP 4: (L2)
E, K 4
D 1 ITERATION 3:
Itemsets Counts E, M 2 Itemsets Counts
E 4 STEP 5: (C3)
E 4 E, O 3 E, K 4
I 1 Itemsets Counts
K 5 E, Y 2 E, O 3
K 5 E, K, O 3
M 3 K, M 3 K, M 3
M 3 K, M, O 1
O 3 K, O 3 K, O 3
N 2 K, M, Y 2
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Y 3 K, Y 3 K, Y 3
O 3
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M, O 1
U 1
M, Y 2
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Y 3
O, Y 2
STEP 6: (L3)
Itemsets Counts
E, K, O 3

Now, stop since no more combinations can be made in L3.

ASSOCIATION RULE:

1. [E, K] → O = 3/4 = 75%

2. [K, O] → E = 3/3 = 100%

3. [E, O] → K = 3/3 = 100%

4. E → [K, O] = 3/4 = 75%

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 5. K → [E, O] = 3/5 = 60%

6. O → [E, K] = 3/3 = 100%

Therefore, Rule no. 5 is discarded because confidence ≥ 70%

So, Rule 1,2,3,4,6 are selected.

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DATABASE
SYSTEMS
What is Frequent Itemset Mining?
GROUP

Frequent Itemset Mining:

Finding frequent patterns, associations, correlations, or causal structures
among sets of items or objects in transaction databases, relational
databases, and other information repositories.
• Given:
– A set of items 𝐼 = {𝑖1 , 𝑖2 , … , 𝑖𝑚 }
– A database of transactions 𝐷, where a transaction 𝑇 ⊆ 𝐼 is a set of items
• Task 1: find all subsets of items that occur together in many
transactions.
– E.g.: 85% of transactions contain the itemset {milk, bread, butter}
• Task 2: find all rules that correlate the presence of one set of items with
that of another set of items in the transaction database.
– E.g.: 98% of people buying tires and auto accessories also get automotive service
done
• Applications: Basket data analysis, cross-marketing, catalog design,
loss-leader analysis, clustering, classification, recommendation systems,
etc.
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Frequent Itemset Mining  Introduction 3

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DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Example: Basket Data Analysis
GROUP

• Transaction database
D= {{butter, bread, milk, sugar};
{butter, flour, milk, sugar};
{butter, eggs, milk, salt};
{eggs};
{butter, flour, milk, salt, sugar}}

• Question of interest: items frequency

{butter} 4
– Which items are bought together frequently? {milk} 4
{butter, milk} 4
{sugar} 3
• Applications {butter, sugar} 3
– Improved store layout {milk, sugar} 3
{butter, milk, sugar} 3
– Cross marketing
{eggs} 2
– Focused attached mailings / add-on sales …
– *  Maintenance Agreement
(What the store should do to boost Maintenance Agreement sales)
– Home Electronics  * (What other products should the store stock up?)

Frequent Itemset Mining  Introduction 4

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Chapter 3: Frequent Itemset Mining
GROUP

1) Introduction
– Transaction databases, market basket data analysis
2) Mining Frequent Itemsets
– Apriori algorithm, hash trees, FP-tree
3) Simple Association Rules
– Basic notions, rule generation, interestingness measures
4) Further Topics
– Hierarchical Association Rules
• Motivation, notions, algorithms, interestingness
– Quantitative Association Rules
• Motivation, basic idea, partitioning numerical attributes, adaptation of
apriori algorithm, interestingness
5) Extensions and Summary
T

Outline 5
AF

Mining Frequent Itemsets: Basic

DR

Notions
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

 Items 𝐼 = {𝑖1 , 𝑖2 , … , 𝑖𝑚 } : a set of literals (denoting items)

• Itemset 𝑋: Set of items 𝑋 ⊆ 𝐼
• Database 𝐷: Set of transactions 𝑇, each transaction is a set of items T ⊆
𝐼
• Transaction 𝑇 contains an itemset 𝑋: 𝑋 ⊆ 𝑇
• The items in transactions and itemsets are sorted lexicographically:
– itemset 𝑋 = (𝑥1, 𝑥2, … , 𝑥𝑘 ), where 𝑥1  𝑥2  …  𝑥𝑘
• Length of an itemset: number of elements in the itemset
• k-itemset: itemset of length k
• The support of an itemset X is defined as: 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑋 = 𝑇 ∈ 𝐷|𝑋 ⊆ 𝑇
• Frequent itemset: an itemset X is called frequent for database 𝐷 iff it is
contained in more than 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑆𝑢𝑝 many transactions: 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡(𝑋) ≥
𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑆𝑢𝑝

• Goal 1: Given a database 𝐷and a threshold 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑆𝑢𝑝 , find all frequent

itemsets X ∈ 𝑃𝑜𝑡(𝐼).

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms 6

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Mining Frequent Itemsets: Basic Idea
GROUP

• Naïve Algorithm
– count the frequency of all possible subsets of 𝐼 in the database
 too expensive since there are 2m such itemsets for |𝐼| = 𝑚 items
cardinality of power set
• The Apriori principle (anti-monotonicity):
Any non-empty subset of a frequent itemset is frequent, too!
A ⊆ I with support A ≥ minSup ⇒ ∀A′ ⊂ A ∧ A′ ≠ ∅: support A′ ≥ minSup
Any superset of a non-frequent itemset is non-frequent, too!
A ⊆ I with support A < minSup ⇒ ∀A′ ⊃ A: support A′ < minSup
ABCD not frequent
• Method based on the apriori principle ABC ABD ACD BCD
– First count the 1-itemsets, then the 2-itemsets,
AB AC AD BC BD CD
then the 3-itemsets, and so on
A B C D
– When counting (k+1)-itemsets, only consider those
(k+1)-itemsets where all subsets of length k have been Ø
determined as frequent in the previous step
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  Apriori Algorithm 7

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
The Apriori Algorithm
GROUP

variable Ck: candidate itemsets of size k

variable Lk: frequent itemsets of size k

L1 = {frequent items}
for (k = 1; Lk !=; k++) do begin
// JOIN STEP: join Lk with itself to produce Ck+1
produce // PRUNE STEP: discard (k+1)-itemsets from Ck+1 that
candidates contain non-frequent k-itemsets as subsets
Ck+1 = candidates generated from Lk

for each transaction t in database do

prove Increment the count of all candidates in Ck+1
candidates that are contained in t
Lk+1 = candidates in Ck+1 with min_support
return k Lk

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  Apriori Algorithm 8

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Generating Candidates (Join Step)
GROUP

• Requirements for set of all candidate 𝑘 + 1 -itemsets 𝐶𝑘+1

– Completeness:
Must contain all frequent 𝑘 + 1 -itemsets (superset property 𝐶𝑘+1  𝐿𝑘+1 )
– Selectiveness:
Significantly smaller than the set of all 𝑘 + 1 -subsets
– Suppose the items are sorted by any order (e.g., lexicograph.)
• Step 1: Joining (𝐶𝑘+1 = 𝐿𝑘 ⋈ 𝐿𝑘 )
– Consider frequent 𝑘-itemsets 𝑝 and 𝑞
– 𝑝 and 𝑞 are joined if they share the same first 𝑘 − 1 items
p  Lk=3 (A, C, F)
insert into Ck+1
select p.i1, p.i2, …, p.ik–1, p.ik, q.ik (A, C, F, G)  Ck+1=4
from Lk : p, Lk : q
q  Lk=3 (A, C, G)
where p.i1=q.i1, …, p.ik –1 =q.ik–1, p.ik < q.ik
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  Apriori Algorithm 9

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Generating Candidates (Prune Step)
GROUP

• Step 2: Pruning (𝐿𝑘+1 = {X ∈ 𝐶𝑘+1 |𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑋 ≥ 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑆𝑢𝑝} )

– Naïve: Check support of every itemset in 𝐶𝑘+1  inefficient for huge 𝐶𝑘+1
– Instead, apply Apriori principle first: Remove candidate (k+1) -itemsets
which contain a non-frequent k -subset s, i.e., s  Lk
forall itemsets c in Ck+1 do
forall k-subsets s of c do
if (s is not in Lk) then delete c from Ck+1
• Example 1
– L3 = {(ACF), (ACG), (AFG), (AFH), (CFG)}
– Candidates after the join step: {(ACFG), (AFGH)}
– In the pruning step: delete (AFGH) because (FGH)  L3, i.e., (FGH) is not a
frequent 3-itemset; also (AGH)  L3
 C4 = {(ACFG)}  check the support to generate L4

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  Apriori Algorithm 10

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Apriori Algorithm – Full Example
GROUP

minSup=0.5 C1 itemset count L1 itemset count

database D {1} 3 {1} 3
TID items scan D {2} 2 {2} 2
100 1346 {3} 3 {3} 3
200 235 {4} 1 {5} 3 𝐿1 ⋈ 𝐿1
300 1235 {5} 3 {6} 2
400 156 {6} 2
C2 itemset C2 itemset C2 itemset count L2 itemset count
{1 2} {1 2} {1 2} 1 {1 3} 2
{1 3} prune C1 {1 3} scan D {1 3} 2 {1 5} 2
{1 5} {1 5} {1 5} 2 {1 6} 2
{1 6} {1 6} {1 6} 2 {2 3} 2
{2 3} {2 3} {2 3} 2 {2 5} 2
{2 5} {2 5} {2 5} 2 {3 5} 2
{2 6} {2 6} {2 6} 0
{3 5} {3 5} {3 5} 2
{3 6} {3 6} {3 6} 1 𝐿2 ⋈ 𝐿2
{5 6} {5 6} {5 6} 1
C3 itemset C3 itemsetC3 itemset count L3 itemset count
{1 3 5} {1 3 5} {1 3 5} 1 {2 3 5} 2
{1 3 6} prune C2 {1 3 6} ✗ scan D {2 3 5} 2
{1 5 6} {1 5 6} ✗ 𝐿3 ⋈ 𝐿3
{2 3 5} {2 3 5} C4 is empty
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  Apriori Algorithm 11

AF

How to Count Supports of

DR

Candidates?
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Why is counting supports of candidates a problem?

– The total number of candidates can be very huge
– One transaction may contain many candidates
• Method: Hash-Tree
– Candidate itemsets are stored in a hash-tree
– Leaf nodes of hash-tree contain lists of itemsets and their support (i.e.,
counts)
– Interior nodes contain hash tables
– Subset function finds all the candidates contained in a transaction
012
012 012 012
e.g. for 3-Itemsets
h(K) = K mod 3 (3 6 7) 0 1 2 (3 5 7) (7 9 12) (1 4 11) (7 8 9) (2 3 8) 0 1 2 (2 5 6)
(3 5 11) (1 6 11) (1 7 9) (1 11 12) (5 6 7) (2 5 7)
(5 8 11)
(3 4 15) (3 7 11) (2 4 6) (2 4 7)
(3 4 11) (2 7 9) (5 7 10)
(3 4 8)

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  Apriori Algorithm 12

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Hash-Tree – Construction
GROUP

• Searching for an itemset

– Start at the root (level 1)
– At level d: apply the hash function h to the d-th item in the itemset
• Insertion of an itemset
– search for the corresponding leaf node, and insert the itemset into that leaf
– if an overflow occurs:
• Transform the leaf node into an internal node
• Distribute the entries to the new leaf nodes according to the hash
function
012
012 012 012
for 3-Itemsets
(3 6 7) 0 1 2 (3 5 7) (7 9 12) (1 4 11) (7 8 9) (2 3 8) 0 1 2 (2 5 6)
h(K) = K mod 3 (3 5 11) (1 6 11) (1 7 9) (1 11 12) (5 6 7) (2 5 7)
(5 8 11)
(3 4 15) (3 7 11) (2 4 6) (2 4 7)
(3 4 11) (2 7 9) (5 7 10)
(3 4 8)
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  Apriori Algorithm 13

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Hash-Tree – Counting
GROUP

• Search all candidate itemsets contained in a transaction T = (t1 t2 ... tn) for a
current itemset length of k
• At the root
– Determine the hash values for each item t1 t2 ... tn-k+1 in T
– Continue the search in the resulting child nodes
• At an internal node at level d (reached after hashing of item 𝑡𝑖 )
– Determine the hash values and continue the search for each item 𝑡𝑗 with 𝑖 < 𝑗 ≤ 𝑛 −
𝑘+𝑑
• At a leaf node
– Check whether the itemsets in the leaf node are contained in transaction T
012
in our example n=5 and k=3 3 1,7
h(K) = K mod 3 012 012 012
9 7 3,9 7
Transaction (1, 3, 7, 9, 12) (3 6 7) 0 1 2 (3 5 7) (7 9 12) (1 4 11) (7 8 9) (2 3 8) 0 1 2 (2 5 6)
(3 5 11) (1 6 11) (1 7 9) (1 11 12) (5 6 7) (2 5 7)
(5 8 11)
9,12
Tested leaf nodes (3 4 15) (3 7 11) (2 4 6) (2 4 7)
(3 4 11) (2 7 9) (5 7 10)
Pruned subtrees (3 4 8)

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  Apriori Algorithm 14

 Is Apriori Fast Enough? —
Performance Bottlenecks
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• The core of the Apriori algorithm:

– Use frequent (k – 1)-itemsets to generate candidate frequent k-itemsets
– Use database scan and pattern matching to collect counts for the candidate
itemsets
• The bottleneck of Apriori: candidate generation
– Huge candidate sets:
• 104 frequent 1-itemsets will generate 107 candidate 2-itemsets
• To discover a frequent pattern of size 100, e.g., {a1, a2, …, a100}, one
needs to generate 2100  1030 candidates.
– Multiple scans of database:
• Needs n or n+1 scans, n is the length of the longest pattern
 Is it possible to mine the complete set of frequent itemsets without
candidate generation?
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  Apriori Algorithm 15

AF

Mining Frequent Patterns Without

DR

Candidate Generation
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Compress a large database into a compact, Frequent-Pattern tree (FP-

tree) structure
– highly condensed, but complete for frequent pattern mining
– avoid costly database scans

• Develop an efficient, FP-tree-based frequent pattern mining method

– A divide-and-conquer methodology: decompose mining tasks into smaller
ones
– Avoid candidate generation: sub-database test only!

• Idea:
– Compress database into FP-tree, retaining the itemset association
information
– Divide the compressed database into conditional databases, each associated
with one frequent item and mine each such database separately.

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 16

 Construct FP-tree from a Transaction
DB
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

Steps for compressing the database into a FP-tree:

1. Scan DB once, find frequent 1-itemsets (single items)
2. Order frequent items in frequency descending order

TID items bought

100 {f, a, c, d, g, i, m, p}
200 {a, b, c, f, l, m, o}
300 {b, f, h, j, o}
400 {b, c, k, s, p}
500 {a, f, c, e, l, p, m, n}

header table:
1&2 item frequency
f 4
c 4 sort items in the order
a 3 of descending support
minSup=0.5 b 3
m 3
p 3
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 17

AF

Construct FP-tree from a Transaction

DR

DB
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

Steps for compressing the database into a FP-tree:

1. Scan DB once, find frequent 1-itemsets (single items)
2. Order frequent items in frequency descending order
3. Scan DB again, construct FP-tree starting with most frequent item per transaction
TID items bought (ordered) frequent
items for each transaction only
100 {f, a, c, d, g, i, m, p} {f, c, a, m, p} keep its frequent items
200 {a, b, c, f, l, m, o} {f, c, a, b, m} sorted in descending
300 {b, f, h, j, o} {f, b} order of their frequencies
400 {b, c, k, s, p} {c, b, p}
500 {a, f, c, e, l, p, m, n} {f, c, a, m, p}
header table:
item frequency 3a
1&2 f 4
for each transaction build a path in the FP-tree:
c 4
a 3 - If a path with common prefix exists:
b 3 increment frequency of nodes on this path
m 3 and append suffix
p 3 - Otherwise: create a new branch
Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 18
 Construct FP-tree from a Transaction
DB
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

Steps for compressing the database into a FP-tree:

1. Scan DB once, find frequent 1-itemsets (single items)
2. Order frequent items in frequency descending order
3. Scan DB again, construct FP-tree starting with most frequent item per transaction
TID items bought (ordered) frequent 3b
items {}
100 {f, a, c, d, g, i, m, p} {f, c, a, m, p}
200 {a, b, c, f, l, m, o} {f, c, a, b, m}
300 {b, f, h, j, o} {f, b} f:4 c:1
400 {b, c, k, s, p} {c, b, p}
500 {a, f, c, e, l, p, m, n} {f, c, a, m, p} c:3 b:1 b:1
header table: 3a
1&2
item frequency head
a:3 p:1
f 4
header table c 4
references the a 3 m:2 b:1
occurrences of the b 3
frequent items in the m 3
FP-tree p:2 m:1
p 3
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 19

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Benefits of the FP-tree Structure
GROUP

• Completeness:
– never breaks a long pattern of any transaction
– preserves complete information for frequent pattern mining
• Compactness
– reduce irrelevant information—infrequent items are gone
– frequency descending ordering: more frequent items are more likely to be
shared
– never be larger than the original database (if not count node-links and
counts)
– Experiments demonstrate compression ratios over 100

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 20

 Mining Frequent Patterns Using
FP-tree
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• General idea (divide-and-conquer)

– Recursively grow frequent pattern path using the FP-tree
• Method
– For each item, construct its conditional pattern-base (prefix paths), and then
its conditional FP-tree
– Repeat the process on each newly created conditional FP-tree …
– …until the resulting FP-tree is empty, or it contains only one path (single
path will generate all the combinations of its sub-paths, each of which is a
frequent pattern)

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 21

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Major Steps to Mine FP-tree
GROUP

1) Construct conditional pattern base for each node in the FP-tree

2) Construct conditional FP-tree from each conditional pattern-base
3) Recursively mine conditional FP-trees and grow frequent patterns
obtained so far
– If the conditional FP-tree contains a single path, simply enumerate all the
patterns

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 22

 Major Steps to Mine FP-tree:
Conditional Pattern Base
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

1) Construct conditional pattern base for each node in the FP-tree

– Starting at the frequent header table in the FP-tree
– Traverse FP-tree by following the link of each frequent item (dashed lines)
– Accumulate all of transformed prefix paths of that item to form a conditional
pattern base
• For each item its prefixes are regarded as condition for it being a suffix. These
prefixes form the conditional pattern base. The frequency of the prefixes can be
read in the node of the item.
{}
header table:
item frequency head f:4 c:1
conditional pattern base:
f 4 item cond. pattern base
c 4 c:3 b:1 b:1 f {}
a 3 c f:3, {}
b 3 a:3 p:1 a fc:3
m 3 b fca:1, f:1, c:1
m:2 b:1 m fca:2, fcab:1
p 3
p fcam:2, cb:1
p:2 m:1
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 23

AF

Properties of FP-tree for Conditional

DR

Pattern Bases
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Node-link property
– For any frequent item ai, all the possible frequent patterns that contain ai
can be obtained by following ai's node-links, starting from ai's head in the
FP-tree header
• Prefix path property
– To calculate the frequent patterns for a node ai in a path P, only the prefix
sub-path of ai in P needs to be accumulated, and its frequency count should
carry the same count as node ai.

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 24

 Major Steps to Mine FP-tree:
Conditional FP-tree
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

1) Construct conditional pattern base for each node in the FP-tree ✔

2) Construct conditional FP-tree from each conditional pattern-base
– The prefix paths of a suffix represent the conditional basis.
They can be regarded as transactions of a database.
– Those prefix paths whose support ≥ minSup, induce a conditional FP-tree
– For each pattern-base
• Accumulate the count for each item in the base
• Construct the FP-tree for the frequent items of the pattern base

conditional pattern base: m-conditional FP-tree

item cond. pattern base item frequency {}|m
f {} f 3 ..
c f:3 c 3 ..
a fc:3 f:3
a 3 ..
b fca:1, f:1, c:1 b 1✗
m fca:2, fcab:1 c:3
p fcam:2, cb:1
a:3
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 25

AF

Major Steps to Mine FP-tree:

DR

Conditional FP-tree
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

1) Construct conditional pattern base for each node in the FP-tree ✔

2) Construct conditional FP-tree from each conditional pattern-base

conditional pattern base:

item cond. pattern base
f {}
c f:3
a fc:3
b fca:1, f:1, c:1
m fca:2, fcab:1
p fcam:2, cb:1

{}|f = {} {}|c {}|a {}|b = {} {}|m {}|p

f:3 f:3 f:3 c:3

c:3 c:3

a:3
Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 26
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Major Steps to Mine FP-tree
GROUP

1) Construct conditional pattern base for each node in the FP-tree ✔

2) Construct conditional FP-tree from each conditional pattern-base ✔
3) Recursively mine conditional FP-trees and grow frequent patterns
obtained so far
– If the conditional FP-tree contains a single path, simply enumerate all the
patterns (enumerate all combinations of sub-paths)

example:
m-conditional FP-tree All frequent patterns
{}|m concerning m
m,
f:3 just a single path
fm, cm, am,
c:3 fcm, fam, cam,
fcam
a:3
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 27

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
FP-tree: Full Example
GROUP

database:
TID items bought (ordered) frequent items
100 {b, c, f} {f, b, c}
200 {a, b, c} {b, c}
300 {d, f} {f}
400 {b, c, e, f} {f, b, c}
500 {f, g} {f} {}

minSup=0.4 header table:

item frequency head f:4 b:1
f 4
b 3
c 3 b:2 c:1

c:2
conditional pattern base:
item cond. pattern base
f {}
b f:2, {}
c fb:2, b:1

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 28

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
FP-tree: Full Example
GROUP

{} conditional pattern base 1:

item cond. pattern base
f {}
f:4 b:1
b f:2
c fb:2, b:1
b:2 c:1

c:2

{}|c conditional pattern base 2:

item cond. pattern base
{}|f = {} {}|b b f:2
f:2 b:1 f {}
f:2 b:2
{{f}}
{{b},{fb}}
{}|fc = {} {}|bc

{{fc}} {{bc},{fbc}}
f:2
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 29

AF

Principles of Frequent Pattern

DR

Growth
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Pattern growth property

– Let  be a frequent itemset in DB, B be 's conditional pattern base, and 
be an itemset in B. Then    is a frequent itemset in DB iff  is frequent
in B.

• “abcdef ” is a frequent pattern, if and only if

– “abcde ” is a frequent pattern, and
– “f ” is frequent in the set of transactions containing “abcde ”

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 30

 Why Is Frequent Pattern Growth
Fast?
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Performance study in [Han, Pei&Yin ’00] shows

Data set T25I20D10K:
– FP-growth is an order of 100
T 25 avg. length of transactions
magnitude faster than Apriori, 90 I 20 avg. length of frequent itemsets
D 10K database size (#transactions)
and is also faster than 80

70
tree-projection

Run time(sec.)
60
50 D1 FP-grow th runtime
40 D1 Apriori runtime

30
20
10
0

• Reasoning
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3
Support threshold(%)

– No candidate generation, no candidate test

• Apriori algorithm has to proceed breadth-first
– Use compact data structure
– Eliminate repeated database scan
– Basic operation is counting and FP-tree building
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  FP-Tree 31

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Maximal or Closed Frequent Itemsets
GROUP

• Big challenge: database contains potentially a huge number of frequent

itemsets (especially if minSup is set too low).
– A frequent itemset of length 100 contains 2100-1 many frequent subsets
• Closed frequent itemset:
An itemset X is closed in a data set D if there exists no proper super-
itemset Y such that 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡(𝑋) = 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡(𝑌) in D.
– The set of closed frequent itemsets contains complete information regarding
its corresponding frequent itemsets.
• Maximal frequent itemset:
An itemset X is maximal in a data set D if there exists no proper super-
itemset Y such that 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑌 ≥ 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑆𝑢𝑝 in D.
– The set of maximal itemsets does not contain the complete support
information
– More compact representation

Frequent Itemset Mining  Algorithms  Maximal or Closed Frequent Itemsets 32

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Chapter 3: Frequent Itemset Mining
GROUP

1) Introduction
– Transaction databases, market basket data analysis
2) Mining Frequent Itemsets
– Apriori algorithm, hash trees, FP-tree
3) Simple Association Rules
– Basic notions, rule generation, interestingness measures
4) Further Topics
– Hierarchical Association Rules
• Motivation, notions, algorithms, interestingness
– Quantitative Association Rules
• Motivation, basic idea, partitioning numerical attributes, adaptation of
apriori algorithm, interestingness
5) Extensions and Summary
T

Outline 33
AF

Simple Association Rules:

DR

Introduction
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Transaction database:
D= {{butter, bread, milk, sugar};
{butter, flour, milk, sugar};
{butter, eggs, milk, salt};
{eggs};
{butter, flour, milk, salt, sugar}}
• Frequent itemsets: items support
{butter} 4
{milk} 4
{butter, milk} 4
{sugar} 3
{butter, sugar} 3
{milk, sugar} 3
{butter, milk, sugar} 3
• Question of interest:
– If milk and sugar are bought, will the customer always buy butter as well?
𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑘, 𝑠𝑢𝑔𝑎𝑟 ⇒ 𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 ?
– In this case, what would be the probability of buying butter?

Frequent Itemset Mining  Simple Association Rules 34

 Simple Association Rules: Basic
Notions
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

 Items 𝐼 = {𝑖1 , 𝑖2 , … , 𝑖𝑚 } : a set of literals (denoting items)

• Itemset 𝑋: Set of items 𝑋 ⊆ 𝐼
• Database 𝐷: Set of transactions 𝑇, each transaction is a set of items T ⊆ 𝐼
• Transaction 𝑇 contains an itemset 𝑋: 𝑋 ⊆ 𝑇
• The items in transactions and itemsets are sorted lexicographically:
– itemset 𝑋 = (𝑥1, 𝑥2, … , 𝑥𝑘 ), where 𝑥1  𝑥2  …  𝑥𝑘
• Length of an itemset: cardinality of the itemset (k-itemset: itemset of length
k)
• The support of an itemset X is defined as: 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑋 = 𝑇 ∈ 𝐷|𝑋 ⊆ 𝑇
• Frequent itemset: an itemset X is called frequent iff 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡(𝑋) ≥ 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑆𝑢𝑝

• Association rule: An association rule is an implication of the form 𝑋 ⇒ 𝑌

where 𝑋, 𝑌 ⊆ 𝐼 are two itemsets with 𝑋 ∩ 𝑌 = ∅.

• Note: simply enumerating all possible association rules is not reasonable!

 What are the interesting association rules w.r.t. 𝐷?
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Simple Association Rules 35

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Interestingness of Association Rules
GROUP

• Interestingness of an association rule:

Quantify the interestingness of an association rule with respect to a
transaction database D:
– Support: frequency (probability) of the entire rule with respect to D
{𝑇 ∈ 𝐷|𝑋 ∪ 𝑌 ⊆ 𝑇}
𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑋 ⇒ 𝑌 = 𝑃 𝑋 ∪ 𝑌 = = 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡(𝑋 ∪ 𝑌)
𝐷
“probability that a transaction in 𝐷 contains the itemset 𝑋 ∪ 𝑌”
– Confidence: indicates the strength of implication in the rule
{𝑇 ∈ 𝐷|𝑋 ∪ 𝑌 ⊆ 𝑇} 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡(𝑋 ∪ 𝑌)
𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑋 ⇒ 𝑌 = 𝑃 𝑌|𝑋 = =
{𝑇 ∈ 𝐷|𝑋 ⊆ 𝑇} 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡(𝑋)
“conditional probability that a transaction in 𝐷 containing the itemset 𝑋 also
contains itemset 𝑌” buys diapers
– Rule form: “𝐵𝑜𝑑𝑦 ⇒ 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑 [𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡, 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒]” buys both
• Association rule examples:
– buys diapers  buys beers [0.5%, 60%]
– major in CS ∧ takes DB  avg. grade A [1%, 75%]
buys beer
Frequent Itemset Mining  Simple Association Rules 36
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Mining of Association Rules
GROUP

• Task of mining association rules:

Given a database 𝐷, determine all association rules having a 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 ≥
𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑆𝑢𝑝 and a 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 ≥ 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑓 (so-called strong association
rules).
• Key steps of mining association rules:
1) Find frequent itemsets, i.e., itemsets that have at least support = 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑆𝑢𝑝
2) Use the frequent itemsets to generate association rules
• For each itemset 𝑋 and every nonempty subset Y ⊂ 𝑋 generate rule Y ⇒ (𝑋 −
𝑌) if 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑆𝑢𝑝 and 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑓 are fulfilled
• we have 2|𝑋| − 2 many association rule candidates for each itemset 𝑋
• Example
frequent itemsets 1-itemset count 2-itemset count 3-itemset count
{A} 3 {A, B} 3 {A, B, C} 2
{B} 4 {A, C} 2
{C} 5 {B, C} 4

rule candidates: A ⇒ 𝐵; 𝐵 ⇒ 𝐴; A ⇒ 𝐶; 𝐶 ⇒ A; 𝐵 ⇒ 𝐶; C ⇒ 𝐵;
𝐴, 𝐵 ⇒ 𝐶; 𝐴, 𝐶 ⇒ 𝐵; 𝐶, 𝐵 ⇒ 𝐴; 𝐴 ⇒ 𝐵, 𝐶; 𝐵 ⇒ 𝐴, 𝐶; 𝐶 ⇒ 𝐴, 𝐵
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Simple Association Rules 37

AF

Generating Rules from Frequent

DR

Itemsets
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• For each frequent itemset X

– For each nonempty subset Y of X, form a rule Y ⇒ (𝑋 − 𝑌)
– Delete those rules that do not have minimum confidence
Note: 1) support always exceeds 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑆𝑢𝑝
2) the support values of the frequent itemsets suffice to calculate the
confidence
• Example: 𝑋 = {𝐴, 𝐵, 𝐶}, 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑓 = 60% itemset count
– conf (A  B) = 3/3; ✔ {A} 3
– conf (B  A) = 3/4; ✔ {B} 4
– conf (A  C) = 2/3; ✔ {C} 5
– conf (C  A) = 2/5; ✗
{A, B} 3
– conf (B  C) = 4/4; ✔
{A, C} 2
– conf (C  B) = 4/5; ✔
{B, C} 4
– conf (A  B, C) = 2/3; ✔ conf (B, C  A) = ½ ✗
{A, B, C} 2
– conf (B  A, C) = 2/4; ✗ conf (A, C  B) = 1 ✔
– conf (C  A, B) = 2/5; ✗ conf (A, B  C) = 2/3 ✔
• Exploit anti-monotonicity for generating candidates for strong
association rules!

Frequent Itemset Mining  Simple Association Rules 38

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Interestingness Measurements
GROUP

• Objective measures
– Two popular measurements:
– support and
– confidence

• Subjective measures [Silberschatz & Tuzhilin, KDD95]

– A rule (pattern) is interesting if it is
– unexpected (surprising to the user) and/or
– actionable (the user can do something with it)

Frequent Itemset Mining  Simple Association Rules 39

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Criticism to Support and Confidence
GROUP

Example 1 [Aggarwal & Yu, PODS98]

• Among 5000 students
– 3000 play basketball (=60%)
– 3750 eat cereal (=75%)
– 2000 both play basket ball and eat cereal (=40%)
• Rule play basketball  eat cereal [40%, 66.7%] is misleading because
the overall percentage of students eating cereal is 75% which is higher
than 66.7%
• Rule play basketball  not eat cereal [20%, 33.3%] is far more
accurate, although with lower support and confidence
• Observation: play basketball and eat cereal are negatively correlated
 Not all strong association rules are interesting and some can be
misleading.
 augment the support and confidence values with interestingness
measures such as the correlation 𝐴 ⇒ 𝐵 [𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝, 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓, 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟]

Frequent Itemset Mining  Simple Association Rules 40

 Other Interestingness Measures:
Correlation
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Lift is a simple correlation measure between two items A and B:

𝑃(𝐴 ‫)𝐵 ڂ‬ 𝑃 𝐵 𝐴) 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓(𝐴⇒𝐵)

𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝐴,𝐵 = = =
𝑃 𝐴 𝑃(𝐵) 𝑃 𝐵 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝(𝐵)

! The two rules 𝐴 ⇒ 𝐵 and 𝐵 ⇒ 𝐴 have the same correlation coefficient.

• take both P(A) and P(B) in consideration

• 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝐴,𝐵 > 1 the two items A and B are positively correlated

• 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝐴,𝐵 = 1 there is no correlation between the two items A and B
• 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝐴,𝐵 < 1 the two items A and B are negatively correlated
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Simple Association Rules 41

AF

Other Interestingness Measures:

DR

Correlation
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Example 2: X 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Y 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Z 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
• X and Y: positively correlated
• X and Z: negatively related
• support and confidence of X=>Z dominates
• but items X and Z are negatively correlated
• Items X and Y are positively correlated

rule support confidence correlation

𝑋⇒𝑌 25% 50% 2
𝑋⇒𝑍 37.5% 75% 0.86
𝑌⇒𝑍 12.5% 50% 0.57

Frequent Itemset Mining  Simple Association Rules 42

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Chapter 3: Frequent Itemset Mining
GROUP

1) Introduction
– Transaction databases, market basket data analysis
2) Mining Frequent Itemsets
– Apriori algorithm, hash trees, FP-tree
3) Simple Association Rules
– Basic notions, rule generation, interestingness measures
4) Further Topics
– Hierarchical Association Rules
• Motivation, notions, algorithms, interestingness
– Quantitative Association Rules
• Motivation, basic idea, partitioning numerical attributes, adaptation of
apriori algorithm, interestingness
5) Extensions and Summary
T

Outline 43
AF

Hierarchical Association Rules:

DR

Motivation
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Problem of association rules in plain itemsets

– High minsup: apriori finds only few rules
– Low minsup: apriori finds unmanagably many rules
• Exploit item taxonomies (generalizations, is-a hierarchies) which exist
in many applications
clothes shoes

outerwear shirts sports shoes boots

jackets jeans

• New task: find all generalized association rules between generalized

items  Body and Head of a rule may have items of any level of the
hierarchy
• Generalized association rule: 𝑋 ⇒ 𝑌
with 𝑋, 𝑌 ⊂ 𝐼, 𝑋 ∩ 𝑌 = ∅ and no item in 𝑌 is an ancestor of any item in 𝑋
i.e., 𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑠 ⇒ 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠 is essentially true
Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Hierarchical Association Rules 44
 Hierarchical Association Rules:
Motivating Example
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Examples
Jeans  boots
jackets  boots Support < minSup

Outerwear  boots Support > minsup

• Characteristics
– Support(“outerwear  boots”) is not necessarily equal to the sum
support(“jackets  boots”) + support( “jeans  boots”)
e.g. if a transaction with jackets, jeans and boots exists
– Support for sets of generalizations (e.g., product groups) is higher
than support for sets of individual items
If the support of rule “outerwear  boots” exceeds minsup, then the
support of rule “clothes  boots” does, too
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Hierarchical Association Rules 45

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Mining Multi-Level Associations
GROUP

• A top_down, progressive deepening approach:

Food
– First find high-level strong rules:
• milk  bread [20%, 60%].
milk bread
– Then find their lower-level “weaker” rules:
• 1.5% milk  wheat bread [6%, 50%]. 3.5% 1.5% wheat white

Fraser Sunset Wonder

• Different min_support threshold across multi-levels lead to different

algorithms:
– adopting the same min_support across multi-levels
– adopting reduced min_support at lower levels

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Hierarchical Association Rules 46

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Minimum Support for Multiple Levels
GROUP

• Uniform Support milk minsup = 5 %

support = 10 %

3.5% 1.5% minsup = 5 %

support = 6 % support = 4 %

+ the search procedure is simplified (monotonicity)

+ the user is required to specify only one support threshold
• Reduced Support milk
(Variable Support) minsup = 5 %
support = 10 %

3.5% 1.5% minsup = 3 %

support = 6 % support = 4 %
+ takes the lower frequency of items in lower levels into consideration
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Hierarchical Association Rules 47

AF

Multilevel Association Mining using

DR

Reduced Support
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• A top_down, progressive deepening approach:

Food
– First find high-level strong rules:
• milk  bread [20%, 60%].
milk bread
– Then find their lower-level “weaker” rules:
• 1.5% milk  wheat bread [6%, 50%]. 3.5% 1.5% wheat white
level-wise processing (breadth first)
3 approaches using reduced Support: Fraser Sunset Wonder

• Level-by-level independent method:

– Examine each node in the hierarchy, regardless of whether or not its parent
node is found to be frequent
• Level-cross-filtering by single item:
– Examine a node only if its parent node at the preceding level is frequent
• Level-cross- filtering by k-itemset:
– Examine a k-itemset at a given level only if its parent k-itemset at the
preceding level is frequent

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Hierarchical Association Rules 48

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Multilevel Associations: Variants
GROUP

• A top_down, progressive deepening approach:

Food
– First find high-level strong rules:
• milk  bread [20%, 60%].
milk bread
– Then find their lower-level “weaker” rules:
• 1.5% milk  wheat bread [6%, 50%]. 3.5% 1.5% wheat white
level-wise processing (breadth first)
Fraser Sunset Wonder

• Variations at mining multiple-level association rules.

– Level-crossed association rules:
• 1.5 % milk  Wonder wheat bread
– Association rules with multiple, alternative hierarchies:
• 1.5 % milk  Wonder bread
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Hierarchical Association Rules 49

AF

Multi-level Association: Redundancy

DR

Filtering
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Some rules may be redundant due to “ancestor” relationships between

items.
• Example
– 𝑅1 : milk  wheat bread [support = 8%, confidence = 70%]
– 𝑅2 : 1.5% milk  wheat bread [support = 2%, confidence = 72%]
• We say that rule 1 is an ancestor of rule 2.
• Redundancy:
A rule is redundant if its support is close to the “expected” value, based
on the rule’s ancestor.

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Hierarchical Association Rules 50

 Interestingness of Hierarchical
Association Rules: Notions
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

Let 𝑋, 𝑋 ′ , 𝑌, 𝑌 ′ ⊆ 𝐼 be itemsets.
• An itemset 𝑋′ is an ancestor of 𝑋 iff there exist ancestors 𝑥1′ , … , 𝑥𝑘′ of
𝑥1 , … , 𝑥𝑘 ∈ 𝑋 and 𝑥𝑘+1 , … , 𝑥𝑛 with 𝑛 = 𝑋 such that
𝑋 ′ = {𝑥1′ , … , 𝑥𝑘′ , 𝑥𝑘+1 , … , 𝑥𝑛 }.
• Let 𝑋 ′ and 𝑌′ be ancestors of 𝑋 and 𝑌. Then we call the rules 𝑋′  𝑌′,
𝑋𝑌′, and 𝑋′𝑌 ancestors of the rule X  Y .
• The rule X´  Y´ is a direct ancestor of rule X  Y in a set of rules if:
– Rule X´  Y‘ is an ancestor of rule X  Y, and
– There is no rule X“  Y“ such that X“  Y“ is an ancestor of
X  Y and X´  Y´ is an ancestor of X“  Y“
• A hierarchical association rule X  Y is called R-interesting if:
– There are no direct ancestors of X  Y or
– The actual support is larger than R times the expected support or
– The actual confidence is larger than R times the expected confidence
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Hierarchical Association Rules 51

AF

Expected Support and Expected

DR

Confidence
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• How to compute the expected support?

Given the rule for X  Y and its ancestor rule X´  Y´ the expected
support of X  Y is defined as:
P(𝑧1 ) P 𝑧𝑗 ′
𝐸𝑍 ′ P 𝑍 = ′ × ⋯ × ′ ×P 𝑍
P(𝑧1 ) P(𝑧𝑗 )
where 𝑍 = 𝑋 ∪ 𝑌 = {𝑧1 , … , 𝑧𝑛 }, 𝑍 ′ = 𝑋 ′ ∪ 𝑌 ′ = {𝑧1′ , … , 𝑧𝑗′ , 𝑧𝑗+1 , … , 𝑧𝑛 } and
each 𝑧𝑖′ ∈ 𝑍 ′ is an ancestor of 𝑧𝑖 ∈ 𝑍

[SA’95] R. Srikant, R. Agrawal: Mining Generalized Association Rules. In VLDB, 1995.

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Hierarchical Association Rules 52
 Expected Support and Expected
Confidence
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• How to compute the expected confidence?

Given the rule for X  Y and its ancestor rule X´  Y´, then the
expected confidence of X  Y is defined as:
P(𝑦1 ) P 𝑦𝑗
𝐸𝑋′⇒𝑌′ P 𝑌|𝑋 = ′ × ⋯× ′
× P 𝑌 ′ |𝑋′
P(𝑦1 ) P 𝑦𝑗
where 𝑌 = {𝑦1 , … , 𝑦𝑛 } and 𝑌′ = 𝑦1′ , … , 𝑦𝑗′ , 𝑦𝑗+1 , … , 𝑦𝑛 and each 𝑦𝑖′ ∈ 𝑌′ is
an ancestor of 𝑦𝑖 ∈ 𝑌

[SA’95] R. Srikant, R. Agrawal: Mining Generalized Association Rules. In VLDB, 1995.

T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Hierarchical Association Rules 53

AF

Interestingness of Hierarchical
DR

Association Rules:Example
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Example Item Support

– Let R = 1.6 clothes 20
outerwear 10
jackets 4

•
No rule support R-interesting?
1 clothes  shoes 10 yes: no ancestors
2 outerwear  shoes 9 yes:
Support > R *exp. support (wrt. rule 1) =
10
(1.6 ⋅ (20 ⋅ 10)) = 8
3 jackets  shoes 4 Not wrt. support:
Support > R * exp. support (wrt. rule 1) = 3.2
Support < R * exp. support (wrt. rule 2) = 5.75
 still need to check the confidence!

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Hierarchical Association Rules 54

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Chapter 3: Frequent Itemset Mining
GROUP

1) Introduction
– Transaction databases, market basket data analysis
2) Simple Association Rules
– Basic notions, rule generation, interestingness measures
3) Mining Frequent Itemsets
– Apriori algorithm, hash trees, FP-tree
4) Further Topics
– Hierarchical Association Rules
• Motivation, notions, algorithms, interestingness
– Multidimensional and Quantitative Association Rules
• Motivation, basic idea, partitioning numerical attributes, adaptation of
apriori algorithm, interestingness
5) Summary
T

Outline 55
AF

Multi-Dimensional Association:
DR

Concepts
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Single-dimensional rules:
– buys milk  buys bread

• Multi-dimensional rules:  2 dimensions

– Inter-dimension association rules (no repeated dimensions)
• age between 19-25  status is student  buys coke
– hybrid-dimension association rules (repeated dimensions)
• age between 19-25  buys popcorn  buys coke

Frequent Itemset Mining  Extensions & Summary 56

 Techniques for Mining Multi-
Dimensional Associations
DATABASE
SYSTEMS
GROUP

• Search for frequent k-predicate set:

– Example: {age, occupation, buys} is a 3-predicate set.
– Techniques can be categorized by how age is treated.
1. Using static discretization of quantitative attributes
– Quantitative attributes are statically discretized by using predefined concept
hierarchies.
2. Quantitative association rules
– Quantitative attributes are dynamically discretized into “bins”based on the
distribution of the data.
3. Distance-based association rules
– This is a dynamic discretization process that considers the distance between
data points.
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Extensions & Summary 57

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Quantitative Association Rules
GROUP

• Up to now: associations of boolean attributes only

• Now: numerical attributes, too
• Example:
– Original database

ID age marital status # cars

1 23 single 0
2 38 married 2
– Boolean database

ID age: 20..29 age: 30..39 m-status: single m-status: married ...

1 1 0 1 0 ...
2 0 1 0 1 ...

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Quantitative Association Rules 58

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Quantitative Association Rules: Ideas
GROUP

• Static discretization
– Discretization of all attributes before mining the association rules
– E.g. by using a generalization hierarchy for each attribute
– Substitute numerical attribute values by ranges or intervals

• Dynamic discretization
– Discretization of the attributes during association rule mining
– Goal (e.g.): maximization of confidence
– Unification of neighboring association rules to a generalized rule

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Quantitative Association Rules 59

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Partitioning of Numerical Attributes
GROUP

• Problem: Minimum support

– Too many intervals too small support for each individual interval
– Too few intervals  too small confidence of the rules

• Solution
– First, partition the domain into many intervals
– Afterwards, create new intervals by merging adjacent interval

• Numeric attributes are dynamically discretized such that the confidence

or compactness of the rules mined is maximized.

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Quantitative Association Rules 60

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Quantitative Association Rules
GROUP

• 2-D quantitative association rules: Aquan1  Aquan2  Acat

• Cluster “adjacent” association
rules to form general rules
using a 2-D grid.

• Example:

age(X,”30-34”)  income(X,”24K - 48K”)

 buys(X,”high resolution TV”)
T

Frequent Itemset Mining  Further Topics  Quantitative Association Rules 61

AF
DR

DATABASE
SYSTEMS
Chapter 3: Frequent Itemset Mining
GROUP

1) Introduction
– Transaction databases, market basket data analysis
2) Mining Frequent Itemsets
– Apriori algorithm, hash trees, FP-tree
3) Simple Association Rules
– Basic notions, rule generation, interestingness measures
4) Further Topics
– Hierarchical Association Rules
• Motivation, notions, algorithms, interestingness
– Quantitative Association Rules
• Motivation, basic idea, partitioning numerical attributes, adaptation of
apriori algorithm, interestingness
5) Summary

Outline 62