Chapter 1

Principal Component Analysis

Principal component analysis (PCA) is the most widely used factorial method. It is applied to tables in which a set of (statistical) individuals is described by a set of quantitative variables. In this chapter, we present a detailed description of this method, both in theory and in practice. This is the perfect opportunity to introduce a number of concepts used to analyse multiple tables, but also apply to simple ones. This enables the reader to see the specificities of multiple factor analysis (MFA) better.

Vocabulary: Factor Analysis or Factorial Analysis?

Both families of methods are very similar, which explains the confusion between the two names. Roughly, we can say that factor analysis is based on ...

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