A Novel Clustering Validity Function of FCM Clustering Algorithm

Cluster analysis refers to the process of grouping a collection of physical or abstract objects into multiple classes of similar objects. Determining the optimal classification number of a data set is the key to the clustering problem, that is to say whether the data set can be effectively partitioned. Cluster validity study is a process of establishing clustering effectiveness indicators, evaluating clustering quality and determining the optimal number of clusters. A validity function of fuzzy C-means (FCM) clustering algorithm is proposed by adopting the division of intra-class compactness and inter-class separation, whose minimum represents the best clustering. Then, the proposed validity function on FCM clustering algorithm is compared with the known typical validity functions by carrying out simulation experiments to compare the related clustering performance. Three data sets are adopted to carry out FCM clustering, which includes three classical data sets, two artificial data sets and six real data sets in UCI database. Simulation experimental results show that the proposed validity function can effectively partition the data set.