Clustering stability: An overview

Abstract

A popular method for selecting the number of clusters is based on stability arguments: one chooses the number of clusters such that the corresponding clustering results are "most stable". In recent years, a series of papers has analyzed the behavior of this method from a theoretical point of view. However, the results are very technical and difficult to interpret for non-experts. In this monograph we give a high-level overview about the existing literature on clustering stability. In addition to presenting the results in a slightly informal but accessible way, we relate them to each other and discuss their different implications. © 2010 U. von Luxburg.