Why so many clustering algorithms: a position paper Vladimir Estivill-Castro   View Paper (PDF)   Return to June 2002 - Volume 4, Issue 1 Abstract We argue that there are many clustering algorithms, because the notion of "cluster" cannot be precisely defined. Clustering is in the eye of the beholder, and as such, researchers have proposed many induction principles and models whose corresponding optimization problem can only be approximately solved by an even larger number of algorithms. Therefore, comparing clustering algorithms, must take into account a careful understanding of the inductive principles involved. DiSC'03 © 2003 Association for Computing Machinery