Re: Histogram "Bins" tab options problem

["Andreas J. Guelzow" <aguelzow pyrshep ca>]

On Tue, 2011-02-08 at 13:32 -0500, Daniel P. Dougherty wrote:
> Under the bins tab on the histogram dialog there is a possible error in the 
> labels.   The issue is how to capture the finite minimum and maximum data 
> values in a bin??  I think it is more correct that the 8 rules should each be 
> stated as:
>
> (-inf,*),[*,*),...,[*,*),[*,+inf)
> (-inf,*],(*,*],...,(*,*],(*,+inf)
>
> [*,*),[*,*),...,[*,*),[*,+inf)
> [*,*],(*,*],...,(*,*],(*,+inf]
> (-inf,*),[*,*),...,[*,*),[*,*]
> (-inf,*],(*,*],...,(*,*],(*,*]
>
> [*,*),[*,*),...,[*,*),[*,*]
> [*,*],(*,*],...,(*,*],(*,*]

Comparing the above with the current git version I see that you are
suggesting (with respect to the first interval):
[*,*],(*,*],...,(*,*],(*,+inf]
[*,*],(*,*],...,(*,*],(*,*]
instead of
(*,*],(*,*],...,(*,*],(*,+inf)
(*,*],(*,*],...,(*,*],(*,*]
and (with respect to the last interval):
(-inf,*),[*,*),...,[*,*),[*,*]
[*,*),[*,*),...,[*,*),[*,*]
instead of
(-inf,*),[*,*),...,[*,*),[*,*)
[*,*),[*,*),...,[*,*),[*,*)

Your suggestion would make the first or last interval significantly
different from the others.

Of course the probability that an observation happens to hit the border
is basically 0 (unless you are really having a discrete distribution and
should be using frequency tables instead of histograms.)

I don't think this maximum/minimum cutoff should really ever be equal to
the value of an observation.

Andreas