Computes the distance between two clusters as the distance of the two closest objects (nearest neighbors) in the clusters.

Namespace:  CenterSpace.NMath.Stats
Assembly:  NMathStats (in NMathStats.dll) Version: 3.4.0.0

Syntax

C#
public static double SingleLinkage(
	double Drp,
	double Drq,
	double Dpq,
	double Nr,
	double Np,
	double Nq
)
Visual Basic (Declaration)
Public Shared Function SingleLinkage ( _
	Drp As Double, _
	Drq As Double, _
	Dpq As Double, _
	Nr As Double, _
	Np As Double, _
	Nq As Double _
) As Double
Visual C++
public:
static double SingleLinkage(
	double Drp, 
	double Drq, 
	double Dpq, 
	double Nr, 
	double Np, 
	double Nq
)

Parameters

Drp
Type: System..::.Double
The distance between R and P.
Drq
Type: System..::.Double
The distance between R and Q.
Dpq
Type: System..::.Double
The distance between P and Q.
Nr
Type: System..::.Double
The number of objects in R.
Np
Type: System..::.Double
The number of objects in P.
Nq
Type: System..::.Double
The number of objects in Q.

Return Value

The distance between R and P + Q.

Remarks

During cluster analysis when two groups P and Q are united, a linkage function computes the distance between the new group P + Q and another group R.
Adopting a friends-of-friends clustering strategy closely related to the minimal spanning tree, the single linkage method tends to result in long "chains" of clusters.

See Also