Abstract
WILLIAMS et al.1 have recently proposed that, for similarity indices used for numerical taxonomy, each attribute should be weighted according to the sum of the χ2 values obtained from 2 × 2 tables testing the association of this attribute with all others. This relates the measure of similarity to the distance separating the two individuals in a multi-dimensional space where each axis representing an attribute has a scale depending on the importance of that attribute. Though based on χ2 calculations, the index is not considered to be probabilistic, though the authors adumbrate the possibility of developing probabilistic methods of similarity analysis.
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Williams, W. T., Dale, M. B., and Macnaughton-Smith, P., Nature, 201, 426 (1964).
Fisher, R. A., Statistical Methods for Research Workers, thirteenth ed. (Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh and London, 1963).
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GOODALL, D. A Probabilistic Similarity Index. Nature 203, 1098 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/2031098a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2031098a0
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