MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING AND UNFOLDING

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) techniques are statistical techqnies that convert information about distances between a number of objects into a spatial representation of these objects. These techniques were first discussed systematically in psychometrics [Torgerson, 1958; Coombs, 1964] as multidimensional extensions of univariate psychophysics and sensory scaling. Because they needed considerable computational resources, they did not become widely used until he early seventies, when digital computers became available.