[R] Measuring dispersion

S. Nunes
Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:56:36 -0000

Hi,

I'm looking for a function to measure the dispersion of a set of
values ranging from 0 to 1.
This function should be 0 if all the values are evenly spaced within
the interval and it should be > 0 if values are clustered.
The more clustered the values are, the higher should the function be.

An example:

[0; 0.2; 0.4; 0.6; 0.8; 1] - function should be ~ 0
[0; 0.1; 0.1; 0.15; 1] - function should be > 1

This data comes from time-dependent observations recorded between a
start time (0) and an end time (1).
I want to find out which series are more clustered, i.e. less evenly
distributed.

I'm going to test Kurtosis for this but it doesn't seem to be the best
tool for the job.
As I understand, Kurtosis evaluates the "strength" of a single central
peak. My data can have multiple peaks (clusters).

Thanks in advance for your comments,
--
S?rgio Nunes