Multivariate data analysis (Q749059)

This book is mainly intended for astronomers, whose interest in statistical methods is rapidly increasing. Its aim is to provide them with an introduction to a number of the most usual techniques in multivariate analysis. The text is divided into seven chapters: (1) Data coding and initial treatment; (2) Principal components analysis; (3) Cluster analysis (with most emphasis on hierarchical techniques), (4) Discriminant analysis; (5) Other methods (this chapter is mainly devoted to simple and multiple correspondence analysis, to multidimensional scaling and, very briefly, to simple linear regression; multiple regression is only mentioned); (6) Case studies (a detailed analysis of stellar spectra), (7) Conclusions: Strategies for analysing data. The mathematical level is moderate, but the theoretical grounds of most of the techniques are outlined. FORTRAN-77 programs are provided. Besides the list of general references, the reader will find an extensive list of papers where the statistical methods described have been used in astronomy.