WANI Dictionary

Principal coordinates analysis, PCoA

Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) is a statistical method used to calculate distance of multiple data points and visualize the relationships among them, typically in a two-dimensional plot.

The principal component analysis (PCA) is a variation of PCoA, in which only Euclidean distance can be handled.

Definitions in the literature

• Principal coordinates analysis is a generalization of famous PCA and involves with measurement of similarity between variables [1].
• Principal coordinates analysis is a general ordination technique that can incorporate any distance metric (Gaugh 1982 = Ref [3] of this page), including genetic ones (principal components analysis is a special case of PCO, in which distances are Euclidean) [2].