Abstract
SUPPOSE we wish to examine the relationships among n objects (units, samples) with respect to m attributes (variates, characters, tests). Such a need arises in geology and archaeology, literary studies, medicine and all the biological sciences, particularly the taxonomy of plants and animals. I define here a numerical measure of similarity between objects that can be applied when any mixture of quantitative and qualitative attributes is involved and when observations are missing.
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References
Sokal, R. R., and Sneath, P. H., Principles of Numerical Taxonomy, ch. 6 (Freeman, San Francisco and London, 1963).
Anderson, A. J. B., J. Ecol. (in the press).
Smith, I. W., J. Gen. Microbiol., 33, 263 (1963).
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ANDERSON, A. Similarity Measure for Mixed Attribute Types. Nature 232, 416–417 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/232416a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/232416a0
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