in reply to Re^2: A different kind of search algorithm?
in thread A different kind of search algorithm?

I am a bit uneasy to post this - but I still don't know what "dataset that looks something like this" means in more precise terms. The most probable guess is that this is a partial function that is decreasing at the start, then it has a peak and again is decreasing. But one can also imagine some other constraints compatible with that picture.
  • Comment on Re^3: A different kind of search algorithm?

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^4: A different kind of search algorithm?
by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Jan 30, 2007 at 17:33 UTC

    Sorry. You'd have to read the original post to fully understand how the dataset was arrived at.

    I'm not going to repeat all the details from that original post, but Y-axis represents UserLevel in an RPG; the X-axis is a timebase covering several years, plotted in reverse chronological order. The dip after the peak is due to a computer crash and the restoration of backup several months old.

    All of which should tell you that there is no mathematical formula that will fit the dataset. It is simply a set of numbers that increase from 0 to some peak, drop instantly to a lower level (and then possibly increase slightly again). That, and that there are multiple (hundreds) of consecutive timebase values at each userlevel value, is all that can be said, or needs to be, to describe the problem.

    Which is simply to discover the where the peak value is, and what it is. And how to most efficiently arrive at that information.

    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".
    In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.
[reply]
      OK - when I read this, it is exactly what I was looking for. When I use the word 'function' I don't mean a formula for computing that function - but an 'asignment'. The conditions that you describe - i.e. that the function is increasing until a point where it drops and than increasing again are as good as any other conditions, they are precise. :)
[reply]

In Section Meditations