Clustering

Clustering is when there is an association, but it appears to come in clumps. Consider the following scatter plot that shows the time between eruptions and eruption duration of Old Faithful. Notice how the points cluster towards the lower left and upper right. While this does show us a positive association (meaning the longer between eruptions, the longer the next eruption will last), it also shows us that there are not very many medium length eruptions. They are either short eruptions with short wait times or long eruptions with long wait times.

Scatter plot showing Old Faithful Eruption duration and waiting time between eruptions

Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scatter_plot