Question

The following attributes are measured for a school of dolphins being observed: body length, dorsal fin length, nose length, body weight. What sort of similarity measures would you use to compare or group these elephants. Justify your answer and also indicate any special circumstances.

Answer 1

If you have any problems let me know in the comments and I will try to solve them.

In case of dolphins, their size didn't project a challenge for the measurements but in case of elephants it is a deciding factor, not to mention the cost of such equipment to weigh these creatures is going to be immense, also, an elephant’s weight might change seasonally or due to their diet and re measuring it everytime is a challenge. Therefore, to group elephants together and classify them we can use attributes like the size of the tusk and the trunk, their height and length and the shape of the ear and distinct features of the body like any marks. These distinct features will be selected because it provides us with a range of diverse features especially in the shape of the tusk and its length and marks and patterns on the body. Other data like height can be similar in cases of elephants and therefore cannot be a solid deciding factor and needs to be combined with other factors.

Hope this helps..