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KMeans PCA Case Study

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8 views4 pages

KMeans PCA Case Study

Uploaded by

bu.i.m.i.n.h.c.h.a.u509.5
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Case Study: K-Means Clustering and Dimensionality Reduction

Introduction

In the era of big data, companies often face challenges in analyzing and interpreting

high-dimensional data. Clustering and dimensionality reduction are two powerful techniques that

help in exploring and understanding large datasets. This case study explores the integration of

K-Means clustering and dimensionality reduction (specifically Principal Component Analysis, or

PCA) for customer segmentation in a general-purpose context.

Objective

To identify distinct segments in a dataset using K-Means clustering, while reducing the complexity of

the data using PCA.


Methodology

Dataset

A synthetic dataset with 300 data points and 5 features was generated to simulate a

high-dimensional space.

Step 1: Data Preprocessing

- Features are standardized using z-score normalization.

Step 2: Dimensionality Reduction (PCA)

- PCA reduced the dataset from 5 to 3 principal components, retaining most of the variance.

Step 3: K-Means Clustering

- The elbow method was used to find the optimal number of clusters.

- K-Means was applied on PCA-transformed data with k=5.


Results and Analysis

Cluster Characteristics (Illustrative)

1. Cluster 1: High activity points, centralized.

2. Cluster 2: Moderate activity, peripheral distribution.

3. Cluster 3: Low variance, compact grouping.

4. Cluster 4: Distant high-value points.

5. Cluster 5: Scattered low-density cluster.

Visualization

Below is a 3D PCA scatter plot of the clustered data.


Conclusion

This case study demonstrates how PCA and K-Means clustering complement each other for

high-dimensional data exploration and segmentation. Dimensionality reduction improves both the

interpretability and performance of clustering.

Key Takeaways:

- PCA eliminates noise and redundancy for better clustering results.

- K-Means reveals patterns and hidden groups in large datasets.

- Combined, they provide a robust method for general-purpose clustering tasks.

Future Work:

- Explore nonlinear dimensionality reduction techniques like t-SNE or UMAP.

- Apply clustering in a real-world domain-specific context.

- Integrate with classification algorithms for predictive analytics.

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