Re: Definition of the similarity in a set of integers
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg96447] Re: Definition of the similarity in a set of integers
- From: Bill Rowe <readnews at sbcglobal.net>
- Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:48:21 -0500 (EST)
On 2/12/09 at 6:40 AM, overgeo at gmail.com (Ryan Markley) wrote: >Hello I have two sets of integers eg >S1 = (25,14,32,45) and S2 = (26,12,31,48) >I want to define an operation similar to the variance that give me >how similar both sets are, for example in the above example for both >sets the results I have to get need to be similar because both sets >are similar. >The problem with the variance is this >S1 = (25,1,1,1) and S2 = (1,1,25,1) these two sets have the same >variance but they are completly different. What mathematical >operation can I use to do what I am looking for. As you've noted, variance is order independent. In fact, variance is a measure of the variation between elements within a set not a measure of difference between sets. In version 7 there are a number of built-in functions that give measures of the difference between sets. A list of those can is returned by evaluating ?*Distance From your comments, perhaps the EditDistance or HammingDistance will do.