Clustering remains a vibrant area of research in statistics. Although there are many books on this topic, there are relatively few that are well founded in the theoretical aspects. In Robust Cluster Analysis and Variable Selection, Gunter Ritter presents an overview of the theory and applications of probabilistic clustering and variable selection, synthesizing the key research results of the last 50 years. The author focuses on the robust clustering methods he found to be the most useful on simulated data and real-time applications. The book provides clear guidance for the varying needs of both applications, describing scenarios in which accuracy and speed are the primary goals. Robust Cluster Analysis and Variable Selection includes all of the important theoretical details, and covers the key probabilistic models, robustness issues, optimization algorithms, validation techniques, and variable selection methods. The book illustrates the different methods with simulated data and applies them to real-world data sets that can be easily downloaded from the web. This provides you with guidance in how to use clustering methods as well as applicable procedures and algorithms without having to understand their probabilistic fundamentals.

Given the huge amount of information in the internet and in practically every domain of knowledge that we are facing today, knowledge discovery calls for automation. The book deals with methods from classification and data analysis that respond effectively to this rapidly growing challenge. The interested reader will find new methodological insights as well as applications in economics, management science, finance, and marketing, and in pattern recognition, biology, health, and archaeology.