We present the first linear time (1 + ε)-approximation algorithm for the k-means problem for fixed k and ε. Our algorithm runs in O(nd) time, which is linear in the size of the input. Another feature of our algorithm is its simplicity -the only technique involved is random sampling.
We present a general approach for designing approximation algorithms for a fundamental class of geometric clustering problems in arbitrary dimensions. More specifically, our approach leads to simple randomized algorithms for the k-means, k-median and discrete k-means problems that yield (1 + ε) approximations with probability ≥ 1/2 and running times of O(2These are the first algorithms for these problems whose running times are linear in the size of the input (nd for n points in d dimensions) assuming k and ε are fixed. Our method is general enough to be applicable to clustering problems satisfying certain simple properties and is likely to have further applications.
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