Skip to main content

Comparing the shapes of trees

Contributed Papers

Part of the Lecture Notes in Mathematics book series (LNM,volume 452)

Abstract

A taxonomist may use rooted trees to depict hierarchical classifications of species belonging to the same family. We look at various properties which might be required of a "coefficient of similarity" to be used to compare the shapes of two such trees. A similarity measure calculated from the number of shared subtrees is found to satisfy these requirements.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (Canada)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   34.99
Price excludes VAT (Canada)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   46.00
Price excludes VAT (Canada)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. R. M. Cormack, A review of classification, J.R. Statist. Soc. A 134 (1971), 321–367.

    CrossRef  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. James S. Farris, On comparing the shapes of taxonomic trees, Syst. Zool. 22 (1973), 50–54.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  3. Stephen C. Johnson, Hierarchical clustering schemes, Psychometrika 32 (1967), 241–254.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  4. J. B. Phipps, Dendogram topology, Syst. Zool. 20 (1971), 306–308.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  5. W. T. Williams and H. T. Clifford, On the comparison of two classifications of the same set of elements, Taxon 20 (1971), 519–522.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 1975 Springer-Verlag

About this paper

Cite this paper

Dobson, A.J. (1975). Comparing the shapes of trees. In: Street, A.P., Wallis, W.D. (eds) Combinatorial Mathematics III. Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol 452. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0069548

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0069548

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-07154-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-37482-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive