On the nonnegative rank of Euclidean distance matrices (Q977487)

Any given nonnegative matrix \(A \in {\mathbb R}^{m \times n}\) can be expressed as the product \(A=UV\) for some nonnegative matrices \(U \in {\mathbb R}^{m \times k}\) and \(V \in {\mathbb R}^{k \times n}\) with \(k \leq \text{min}[m, n]\). The smallest \(k\) that makes this factorization possible is called the nonnegative rank of \(A\). If the nonnegative matrix \(A\) is such that its nonnegative rank equals \(\text{rank}(A)\) then it is said that \(A\) has a nonnegative rank factorization and that \(A\) is generic. In the paper, the important class of Euclidean distance matrices for \(n\) distinct points in the space \({\mathbb R}^r\) having no nonnegative rank factorization are discussed. It is shown for the Euclidean distance matrix generically of rank \(r + 2\) that its nonnegative rank for the case \(r = 1\) is generically \(n\).