Week 7 — Lesson 2: Scaling, distance and hierarchical clustering

3 min

K-Means decides the groups by distance, and distance depends on the units of each column. On two readings of machine M001, load alone gives 1,632 of the 2,071 squared units of difference; vibration gives 0.8. For K-Means, the column that predicts faults does not exist. This lesson shows why every column must be scaled before the fit, what happens on the NorthPeak readings without scaling, and introduces hierarchical clustering, a method that needs no k up front.

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This lesson is part of the “Week 7 — Clustering and neural networks” module

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