Normalizing Datasets

Trid3nt

I'm trying to take a data set and normalize it so that the minimum value is equal to 0, the max is equal to 9, and the middle values are scaled accordingly. I noticed that other programming languages have a function for this, but I haven't found one for php. Anyone ever had to deal with normalizing a set of data? I can't figure it out for the life of me. A formula for normalizing to those specifications or a function would be EXTREMELY helpful! Thanks.

sarahk

what are the function names in the other languages?

have you looked them up at http://www.php.net The search facility there is good and finds similar names and therefore might point you to the appropriate function.

Just a wee trick I've had to use switching from language to language. Most of them do what the others do!

Weedpacket

On the other hand, it sounds like a very trivial function to write on one's own.

Gemini1706

if I understand you correclty, then:

min_val------->0
any_val------------->scaled_val
max_val------>9

then,

scaled_val = 0 + (9-0)/(max_val-min_val) * (any_val-min_val)

you get you min_val and max_val using max and min functions of whatever language you use, and apply it to your array or dataset.

Hope this helps...