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On a method for character weighting a similarity coefficient, employing the concept of information

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Abstract

A similarity coefficient is defined in which characters are weighted in proportion to the information they convey, and in inverse proportion to their overall association with other characters. The characters may be discrete or continuously variable, or a mixture of both. With discrete characters, and under ideal conditions, it reduces to the ordinary Sokal-Mitchener coefficient. Under nonideal conditions, it offers a significant gain in the objectivity of numerical taxonomic methods by reducing considerably the need for personal skill and judgment in the selection and scoring of characters for use in an analysis of a group of OTU’s.

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Editor’s note. This paper, by T. P. Burnaby, is published posthumously with permission of Mrs. Jane Burnaby. I would like to thank Dr. J. C. Gower for carefully reviewing the manuscript and supplying the clarifying footnote and discussion.

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Burnaby, T.P. On a method for character weighting a similarity coefficient, employing the concept of information. Mathematical Geology 2, 25–38 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02332078

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