[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]
Subject: AVEDEV
Greetings! Lest we get too focused on the financial functions, can anyone tell me what is wrong with the following? AVEDEV - Calculates the average of the absolute deviations of the values in list. Yes, it should read, "the values in *a* list." but that's just poor writing and I can fix that. What else is problematic about this function and its definition in OpenFormula? ***** Spoiler space ***** Excluding the math formula, our text in full reads: > *Summary:* Calculates the average of the absolute deviations of the > values in list. > > *Syntax:* AVEDEV( { /NumberSequenceList/ N }^+ ) > > *Returns:* Number > > *Constraints:* None. > 1) Average - not defined. 2) Absolute deviation - not defined 3) Values - not defined (what is the standard deviation of string values, one from the other?) 4) Values or NumberSequenceList? 5) Calculates - not defined 6) Calculates as opposed to return, returns, compute, computes, finds? 7) No constraints? Suspect that values being numbers (see #8 on present lack of definition) is one but see #4. 8) Returns Number? (Recalling that number is "defined" as "A number is simply a numeric value such as 0, -4.5, or $1000." That's an illustration, not a definition. So, when I apply AVEDEV to a list of numbers, an application could return a monetary amount? Granting that might make sense if the input was a series of monetary amounts but I don't see a limitation here that prevents a string of integers having an AVEDEV result of $42. Not to exclude the math formula even though I am not including it in this email: Math Formula 9) In order for this to be useful, simply reproducing it is insufficient. Formulas are defined to be useful assuming particular inputs and ranges on those inputs. As well as outputs. We don't have to keep repeating them but we do need to define those inputs, limits and outputs. 10) What precision required is not specified (not really the fault of the equation but seemed appropriate to mention here). Note that fixing many of these issues for AVEDEV fixes the same issue for other functions. This should not be seen as being discouraging. The hard part, deciding what needs to be defined and gathering up an enormous amount of information on each part has already been done. Plus we are close enough to say what remains to be defined to fully specify the functions in OpenFormula. Hope everyone is having a great holiday season! Patrick -- Patrick Durusau patrick@durusau.net Chair, V1 - US TAG to JTC 1/SC 34 Convener, JTC 1/SC 34/WG 3 (Topic Maps) Editor, OpenDocument Format TC (OASIS), Project Editor ISO/IEC 26300 Co-Editor, ISO/IEC 13250-1, 13250-5 (Topic Maps)
[Date Prev] | [Thread Prev] | [Thread Next] | [Date Next] -- [Date Index] | [Thread Index] | [List Home]