In RE: Data Normalization, lonewolf28 asked about normalising some data; and I posted a couple of subroutines that do linear and log scaling.

Thinking about this some more, I wondered if there was any way to programmically decide from a given set of data the most appropriate method of scaling to use.

Often the human being can do this by inspection. eg.This is fairly obviously linear:

5 5 34 44 114 169 177 184 270 339 361 364 442 511 530 554 555 587 709 
+709 735 778 791 859 871 899 903 926 933 952

[download]

This is log2:

0, 1, 3, 7, 15, 31, 63, 127, 255, 511, 1023, 2047, 4095, 8191, 16383, 
+32767, 65535, 131071, 262143, 524287, 
1048575, 2097151, 4194303, 8388607, 16777215, 33554431, 67108863, 1342
+17727, 268435455, 536870911, 1073741823

[download]

And this log10:

1.713125e-005, 1.748086e-006, 2.101463e-006, 1.977405e-006, 3.597675e-
+006, 3.725492e-006, 3.924736e-006, 2.902199e-006, 
3.988645e-006, 8.210367e-006, 3.360837e-006, 5.202907e-006, 7.082570e-
+006, 8.778026e-006, 7.079562e-005, 9.100576e-005, 
5.258545e-005, 9.292677e-005, 1.789815e-004, 2.113948e-003, 7.229146e-
+004, 1.428995e-003, 2.742045e-003, 5.552746e-003, 
1.822390e-002, 2.220999e-002, 4.316067e-002, 8.876963e-002, 1.751072e-
+001, 3.494051e-001, 7.155960e-001, 1.347822e+000

[download]

But how could a program decide that?

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'
Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". I'm with torvalds on this
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. Agile (and TDD) debunked

In reply to Data range detection? by BrowserUk

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