Question 21 - MLS-C01 discussion

The solution D is the best data visualization approach to determine the optimal value of k for the k-means clustering algorithm. The solution D involves the following steps:

Run the k-means clustering algorithm for a range of k. For each value of k, calculate the sum of squared errors (SSE). The SSE is a measure of how well the clusters fit the data. It is calculated by summing the squared distances of each data point to its closest cluster center. A lower SSE indicates a better fit, but it will always decrease as the number of clusters increases.Therefore, the goal is to find the smallest value of k that still has a low SSE1.

Plot a line chart of the SSE for each value of k. The line chart will show how the SSE changes as the value of k increases. Typically, the line chart will have a shape of an elbow, where the SSE drops rapidly at first and then levels off. The optimal value of k is the point after which the curve starts decreasing in a linear fashion.This point is also known as the elbow point, and it represents the balance between the number of clusters and the SSE1.

The other options are not suitable because:

Option A: Calculating the principal component analysis (PCA) components, running the k-means clustering algorithm for a range of k by using only the first two PCA components, and creating a scatter plot with a different color for each cluster will not accurately determine the optimal value of k. PCA is a technique that reduces the dimensionality of the data by transforming it into a new set of features that capture the most variance in the data. However, PCA may not preserve the original structure and distances of the data, and it may lose some information in the process. Therefore, running the k-means clustering algorithm on the PCA components may not reflect the true clusters in the data. Moreover, using only the first two PCA components may not capture enough variance to represent the data well.Furthermore, creating a scatter plot may not be reliable, as it depends on the subjective judgment of the data scientist to decide when the clusters look reasonably separated2.

Option B: Calculating the PCA components and creating a line plot of the number of components against the explained variance will not determine the optimal value of k. This approach is used to determine the optimal number of PCA components to use for dimensionality reduction, not for clustering. The explained variance is the ratio of the variance of each PCA component to the total variance of the data. The optimal number of PCA components is the point where adding more components does not significantly increase the explained variance.However, this number may not correspond to the optimal number of clusters, as PCA and k-means clustering have different objectives and assumptions2.

Option C: Creating a t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) plot for a range of perplexity values will not determine the optimal value of k. t-SNE is a technique that reduces the dimensionality of the data by embedding it into a lower-dimensional space, such as a two-dimensional plane. t-SNE preserves the local structure and distances of the data, and it can reveal clusters and patterns in the data. However, t-SNE does not assign labels or centroids to the clusters, and it does not provide a measure of how well the clusters fit the data. Therefore, t-SNE cannot determine the optimal number of clusters, as it only visualizes the data. Moreover, t-SNE depends on the perplexity parameter, which is a measure of how many neighbors each point considers. The perplexity parameter can affect the shape and size of the clusters, and there is no optimal value for it.Therefore, creating a t-SNE plot for a range of perplexity values may not be consistent or reliable3.

References:

1: How to Determine the Optimal K for K-Means?

2: Principal Component Analysis

3: t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding