ha. yeah, I'd prolly just randomize the table as is for S+Gs to see if just randomly distributes even enough for the suits. Or, seeing as how you are on a edu there, I suggest taking a jaunt over to the Prob and stats dept, or Math dept if no separate prob+stats, and have some grad student play with it.
You could play with Excel even....maybe todays GOTD would help http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/statfi/ DK On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 7:32 PM, Darin Kohles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Or, you normalize with eigenvectors. Just determine the McClaurean > equivalent, factor the Jacobian and viola! > > Actually, in a take on Dean's suggestion you could try a weighting > function. Simply assign a numeric value for each classification, > "bucketize" the results by sum of the numeric values for all variables > (you might need to groups ranges), then randomly select from the > resulting buckets to fill your groups. > > I'd then take Cameron's suggestion and do a comparison with the break > down of the distribution in the resulting groups and possibly tweak. > > On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 6:44 PM, Cameron Childress <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > Dean's method is one possibility. This is actually a very interesting > > question and I'm nojt sure how I'd solve it. I thought about it a bit > > during my drive home, and here's the approach I would take... This is > > alot easier if there are only two choices for each statistic > > (male|female - american|foreign - white|nonwhite), but it could also > > work with multiple choices for each. > > > > First, how to measure the success of the program? Measure the > > percentage of each stat in the group as a whole (I'll call this Big > > Ratio), and then measure the percentages in each of the 25 groups > > (I'll call this Group Ratio) and see how closely they each match. > > > > Okay, next, how to divide them up into groups? I'd start by seeding > > each group with a random individual. Then I would take each person > > from the pool of potential students and loop over each group, testing > > to see if adding that person to that group would make the Group Ratio > > for that group closer or farther away from the Big Ratio. Whichever > > Group Ratio moves the farthest toward the Big Ratio would be the group > > you add that individual to. Once a group reaches 17 people, close it > > and stop adding people to it. > > > > You'll have to find a way of combining the ratios and determining one > > big number that represents the combination. I am sure if I paid more > > attention in my statistics class I'd know it had something to do with > > standard deviations, but I didn't pay any attention - so that's up to > > you to figure out. > > > > Once you are done, look at all the Group Ratios and see how close > > their balance measures up to the Big Ratio. > > > > Two suggestions to make this easier on yourself: > > 1) Start by attempting to balance a smaller number of groups than 25. > > 2 or 3 maybe. > > 2) Start with binary choices, then move on to multiple choices after > > you have amethod that is capible of balancing two choices. > > > > Least that's where I would start. If you are willing, post your > > solution (in english or in code) once you're done. I would be > > interested in seeing how you did it. > > > > -Cameron > > > > On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 5:25 PM, Tepfer, Seth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> I have a challenge laid out before me. I need to divide the incoming > Oxford student class into 25 groups of about 16 or 17 students each. > However, they want the groups to be as balanced as possible, across number, > sex, race, and geographic origin. Now, I can easily see how to balance based > on sex or any single characteristic. But how to balance across all three at > the same time? My head starts spinning when I think about the issues that we > won't necessarily have equal distribution across any of the characteristics. > >> > >> I don't need the code, just the concept. I am having a hard time > conceiving on how to do this if the people were standing in front of me, > much less by code. Any ideas? > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @ > > http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform<http://www.acfug.org/?fa=login.edituserform> > > > > For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists > > Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/ > > List hosted by http://www.fusionlink.com > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Darin Kohles > RIA Developer > > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @ > http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform<http://www.acfug.org/?fa=login.edituserform> > > For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists > Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/ > List hosted by http://www.fusionlink.com > ------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > -- Douglas Knudsen http://www.cubicleman.com this is my signature, like it? ------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @ http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/ List hosted by http://www.fusionlink.com -------------------------------------------------------------
