Hierarchical Clustering and Zeroth Persistent Homology

In this article, we show that hierarchical clustering and the zeroth persistent homology do deliver the same topological information about a given data set. We show this fact using cophenetic matrices constructed out of the filtered Vietoris-Rips complex of the data set at hand. As in any cophenetic matrix, one can also display the inter-relations of zeroth homology classes via a rooted tree, also known as a dendogram. Since homological cophenetic matrices can be calculated for higher homologies, one can also sketch similar dendograms for higher persistent homology classes.