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Approximation algorithms for clustering uncertain data

Published:09 June 2008Publication History

ABSTRACT

There is an increasing quantity of data with uncertainty arising from applications such as sensor network measurements, record linkage, and as output of mining algorithms. This uncertainty is typically formalized as probability density functions over tuple values. Beyond storing and processing such data in a DBMS, it is necessary to perform other data analysis tasks such as data mining. We study the core mining problem of clustering on uncertain data, and define appropriate natural generalizations of standard clustering optimization criteria. Two variations arise, depending on whether a point is automatically associated with its optimal center, or whether it must be assigned to a fixed cluster no matter where it is actually located.

For uncertain versions of k-means and k-median, we show reductions to their corresponding weighted versions on data with no uncertainties. These are simple in the unassigned case, but require some care for the assigned version. Our most interesting results are for uncertain k-center, which generalizes both traditional k-center and k-median objectives. We show a variety of bicriteria approximation algorithms. One picks O(kε--1log2n) centers and achieves a (1 + ε) approximation to the best uncertain k-centers. Another picks 2k centers and achieves a constant factor approximation. Collectively, these results are the first known guaranteed approximation algorithms for the problems of clustering uncertain data.

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          • Published in

            cover image ACM Conferences
            PODS '08: Proceedings of the twenty-seventh ACM SIGMOD-SIGACT-SIGART symposium on Principles of database systems
            June 2008
            330 pages
            ISBN:9781605581521
            DOI:10.1145/1376916

            Copyright © 2008 ACM

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            Association for Computing Machinery

            New York, NY, United States

            Publication History

            • Published: 9 June 2008

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