k-means requires exponentially many iterations even in the plane

dc.creatorVattani, Andrea
dc.date2008-12-01
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T12:08:33Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T12:08:33Z
dc.descriptionThe k-means algorithm is a well-known method for partitioning n points that lie in the d-dimensional space into k clusters. Its main features are simplicity and speed in practice. Theoretically, however, the best known upper bound on its running time (i.e. O(n^{kd})) can be exponential in the number of points. Recently, Arthur and Vassilvitskii [3] showed a super-polynomial worst-case analysis, improving the best known lower bound from Ω(n) to 2^{Ω(\sqrt{n})} with a construction in d=Ω(\sqrt{n}) dimensions. In [3] they also conjectured the existence of superpolynomial lower bounds for any d >= 2. Our contribution is twofold: we prove this conjecture and we improve the lower bound, by presenting a simple construction in the plane that leads to the exponential lower bound 2^{Ω(n)}.
dc.descriptionSubmitted to SoCG 2009
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0812.0382
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0812.0382
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/209358
dc.subjectComputational Geometry
dc.subjectData Structures and Algorithms
dc.subjectMachine Learning
dc.titlek-means requires exponentially many iterations even in the plane
dc.typetext

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