What is the Hierarchical Clustering Tool?

The Hierarchical Clustering tool groups rows and/or columns in a data table and arranges them in a heat map visualization with a dendrogram (a tree graph) based on the distance or similarity between them. When using the hierarchical clustering tool, the input is a data table, and the result is a heat map with dendrograms. You can also initiate hierarchical clustering on an existing heat map from the Dendrograms page of the Heat Map Properties. See How to Use the Heat Map to learn more.

To perform a clustering with the Hierarchical Clustering tool:

Select Tools > Hierarchical Clustering....

Response: The Hierarchical Clustering dialog is displayed.
If the analysis contains more than one data table, select a Data table to perform the clustering calculation on.
Click Select Columns....

Response: The Select Columns dialog is displayed.
Select the columns you want to include in the clustering, and then click OK to close the dialog.
Select the Cluster rows check box if you want to create a row dendrogram.
Click the Settings... button to open the Edit Clustering Settings dialog.
Select a Clustering method.

Comment: For more information on clustering methods, see Clustering Methods Overview.
Select a Distance measure.

Comment: For more information on distance measures, see Distance Measures Overview. Distances exceeding 3.40282e+038 cannot be represented.
Select Ordering weight to use in the clustering calculation.

Comment: For more information see Ordering Weight.
Select an Empty value replacement Method from the drop-down list.

Comment: The available replacement methods are described in Details on Edit Clustering Settings.
Select a Normalization Method to use in the clustering calculation.

Comment: For more information, see Normalizing Columns.
Click OK.
Select the Cluster columns check box if you want to create a column dendrogram.
Go through steps 6 to 12 to define settings for the column dendrogram.
Click OK.

Response: The hierarchical clustering calculation is performed, and a heat map visualization with the specified dendrograms is created. A cluster column is also added to the data table and made available in the filters panel.

Comment: See Dendrograms and Clustering to learn more about dendrograms and cluster columns.