The k-means Algorithm: A Comprehensive Survey and Performance Evaluation

The k-means clustering algorithm is considered one of the most powerful and popular data mining algorithms in the research community. However, despite its popularity, the algorithm has certain limitations, including problems associated with random initialization of the centroids which leads to unexpected convergence. Additionally, such a clustering algorithm requires the number of clusters to be defined beforehand, which is responsible for different cluster shapes and outlier effects. A fundamental problem of thek-means algorithm is its inability to handle various data types. This paper provides a structured and synoptic overview of research conducted on the k-means algorithm to overcome such shortcomings. Variants of thek-means algorithms including their recent developments are discussed, where their effectiveness is investigated based on the experimental analysis of a variety of datasets. The detailed experimental analysis along with a thorough comparison among differentk-meansclustering algorithms differentiates our work compared to other existing survey papers. Furthermore, it outlines a clear and thorough understanding of thek-meansalgorithm along with its different research directions.