Comparison of K-Means and Fuzzy C-Means Algorithms on Different Cluster Structures

Abstract

In this paper the K-means (KM) and the Fuzzy C-means (FCM) algorithms were compared for their computing performance and clustering accuracy on different shaped cluster structures which are regularly and irregularly scattered in two dimensional space. While the accuracy of the KM with single pass was lower than those of the FCM, the KM with multiple starts showed nearly the same clustering accuracy with the FCM. Moreover the KM with multiple starts was extremely superior to the FCM in computing time in all datasets analyzed. Therefore, when well separated cluster structures spreading with regular patterns do exist in datasets the KM with multiple starts was recommended for cluster analysis because of its comparable accuracy and runtime performances.