Psychometrika

, Volume 60, Issue 3, pp 371–374 | Cite as

“Minimax length links” of a dissimilarity matrix and minimum spanning trees

  • J. Douglas Carroll
Article

Abstract

A theorem is proved stating that the set of all “minimax links”, defined as links minimizing, over paths, the maximum length of links in any path connecting a pair of objects comprising nodes in an undirected weighted graph, comprise the union of all minimum spanning trees of that graph. This theorem is related to methods of fitting network models to dissimilarity data, particularly a method called “Pathfinder” due to Schvaneveldt and his colleagues, as well as to single linkage clustering, and results concerning the relationship between minimum spanning trees and single linkage hierarchical trees.

Key words

minimum spanning trees hierarchical clustering single linkage network models proximity data undirected weighted graphs 

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References

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Copyright information

© The Psychometric Society 1995

Authors and Affiliations

  • J. Douglas Carroll
    • 1
  1. 1.Faculty of ManagementRutgers UniversityNewark

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