Introduction:

After reading the lecture notes and the relevant articles we have learned the differences of the questions a cluster analysis and classification can answer. Cluster analysis allows us to group data by similarity, but the cluster parameters (and meaning) is not known prior to the analysis. While classification allows us to attribute a data record to a one of the known groups.

Directions:

Find an example of use of a) cluster analysis and b) classification in research or business literature. Preferably, those example should be taken from the same domain. Analyze the problems that were solved with those two methods and the conclusions that were made.

In your initial post summarize both of the cases and highlight why each those methods were selected for each of the examples. Discuss the particular algorithms selection if it is provided. Draw a more general conclusion how to decide which method to use in the similar cases.