Be sure to include your name on the form for it is requested, as well as your e-mail address.
Your 'timer program' report has been received. Scroll down through the document to see any comments I might have inserted, and my final comment at the end.
** Your General Comment **
** Describe what you see on your first 10 clicks **
It took me about 4.6 secounds to click the button 10 times. In the window below it gives me the time in decimal that it takes me to click the button again.
** Your TIMER data from 20 fast clicks **
1 220.6367 220.6367
2 220.8047 .1679688
3 220.9648 .1601563
4 221.1367 .171875
5 221.2969 .1601563
6 221.457 .1601563
7 221.6289 .171875
8 221.793 .1640625
9 221.9609 .1679688
10 222.125 .1640625
11 222.2969 .171875
12 222.457 .1601563
13 222.6367 .1796875
14 222.8047 .1679688
15 222.9727 .1679688
16 223.1367 .1640625
17 223.3203 .1835938
18 223.5078 .1875
19 223.6953 .1875
20 223.918 .2226563
** Your average time interval for 20 time intervals **
.17382815
I took the lowest number in the list and the highest number in the list and averaged them together. Its not quiet as accurate as adding all 20 numbers
together but gives you a good estimate.
Very good observation.
** Your frequency distribution for the 20 time intervals (interval, number of times it was observed) **
.1601563,4
.1679688,4
.171875,3
.1875,2
.1640625,3
.1797875,1
.1835938,1
** Your general comment to this point **
no comment thus far
** Why did you observe only certain time intervals? **
Maybe there is latency between the clicks and the timer reporting data or maybe the timer program has only certain intervals it can display and when you click the mouse it picks the one closest to one of its predetermined intervals. The timer program is only flawed if it doesn't do what its original purpose was meant for it to do. The timer program might be programmed in a manner to collect data in a certain way that is beneficial to a specific purpose and therefore useful in that way.
** What did you see when you looked at the differences between time successive time intervals? **
I'm not sure how closely I'm suppose to look at that last column and determine the pattern at which the program is using or not. To start the program does seem to be limited in the way it calculates time by using repeated numbers that may have been pre-programmed for a reason or rounded in some fashion. This program may have a specific purpose for calculating time that is closely rounded to a specific number for a particular reason.
** Your time intervals for 7 complete breaths: **
11.20703
12.96484
11.67969
10.79688
8.960938
10.33594
9.691406
9.753906
9.34375
** Your general comment to this point: **
none thus far
** Why did you rarely, if ever, observe that same time interval twice? **
The farther the time intervals are spaced out the less likely the chances of you hitting the same exact intervals more than once.
** Do you think this program is accurate to .1 or .01 ... **
I would say my answer would be B to the .01 second but it really just depends on how accurate we're talking about. Spot on accuracy I wouldn't say either C or D because during our experiments we seen same number occurrences frequently and just as you stated would be nearly impossible and not accurate. I do feel that within the .01 range would be accurate because there is the human element clicking the timer and that cuts some of the accuracy down itself.
** Copy of a few lines of your spreadsheet from the TIMER program. **
'series of regular breaths time at beginning of inhalation'
event number clock time time interval
1 2625.219 2625.219
2 2636.426 11.20703
3 2649.391 12.96484
4 2661.07 11.67969
5 2671.867 10.79688
6 2680.828 8.960938
7 2691.164 10.33594
8 2700.855 9.691406
9 2710.609 9.753906
10 2719.953 9.34375
** **
over an hour
** **
Very good, but be sure you let me know who you are by filling in all the requested blanks on the form. I can't get to know your work unless you identify yourself.