MCDMDistance metric

Canberra Distance

Canberra distance is a weighted version of the Manhattan distance that normalizes differences by the sum of absolute values. Introduced by Geoffrey Lance and William Williams in 1967 as part of their work on clustering classification methods, this metric emphasizes differences in small values and is sensitive to changes in relative proportions. It is commonly used in taxonomy, ecology, decision-making, and any application where normalized relative differences matter.

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Sources

  1. Lance, G. N., & Williams, W. T. (1967). A general theory of classificatory sorting strategies. Computer Journal, 10(3), 271-277. DOI: 10.1093/comjnl/10.3.271
  2. Cantrell, C. D. (1971). A review of taxonomic methods. Taxon, 20(2), 157-175. DOI: 10.2307/1218435

Related methods

Referenced by

ScholarGateCanberra Distance (Canberra Distance Metric). Retrieved 2026-06-04 from https://scholargate.app/en/decision-making/canberra-distance