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Multidimensional scaling and the analysis of human biological diversity in Subsaharan Africa
Author(s) -
Rightmire G. P.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330440308
Subject(s) - multidimensional scaling , diversity (politics) , scaling , metric (unit) , curse of dimensionality , space (punctuation) , distance matrices in phylogeny , simple (philosophy) , variation (astronomy) , mathematics , geography , statistics , econometrics , computer science , combinatorics , sociology , geometry , engineering , physics , philosophy , operations management , epistemology , anthropology , astrophysics , operating system
Much information concerning intergroup variation in Subsaharan Africa has been collected by Hiernaux, who has calculated measures of biological distance (Δg) between pairs of 101 African human populations. The resulting very large matrix of distances is not easily interpreted through simple inspection. Therefore non‐metric multidimensional scaling is here applied in order to produce a configuration of 60 selected groups in a space of reduced dimensionality. A three dimensional solution shows acceptable stress, and this map of populations is used to support and extend Hiernaux's earlier conclusions.