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Given two values, I'm trying to come up with a formula that will return 50% if both values are equal, 25% if the first value is half the second, 75% if the second is half the first. In other words:

given (a=3,b=12) returns .125

given (a=3,b=6) returns .25

given (a=3,b=3) returns .5

given (a=6,b=3) returns .75

given (a=12,b=3) returns .875

(a and b will always be positive)

... the idea being that if a is half of b, it's 25%, if it's half of half, it's 12.5% or half of 25%, if it's half of half of half, etc - the numbers go down if a is greater, but up in the same way if b is greater.

I'd love to know what that equation would look like - I don't really know enough about how this stuff fits together to do much more than fiddle with it on my own. (not even sure what tags to apply to this)

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  • $\begingroup$ Are you sure the second example is right? I think you meant "given (a=3,b=3) returns .5" What do you want it to return beyond these cases, e.g., if one is a quarter or some other fraction of the other? There is clearly not enough information for a unique solution, but with some assumptions we can create an interpolation. $\endgroup$
    – Emre
    Oct 19, 2011 at 22:47
  • $\begingroup$ What (if anything) do you want the value of the function to be if $a\not=b$ and $\frac{a}{2}\not=b$? $\endgroup$
    – user5137
    Oct 19, 2011 at 22:48
  • $\begingroup$ you're right, @emre, misplaced a 6 there. added a couple other cases. $\endgroup$
    – matt lohkamp
    Oct 19, 2011 at 22:56
  • $\begingroup$ @jack - I don't know how to answer that - if a isn't equal to b, and half a isn't equal to b... it'd depend on what a is, but that doesn't answer your question. $\endgroup$
    – matt lohkamp
    Oct 19, 2011 at 23:00
  • $\begingroup$ @mattlohkamp - Well, you're the one trying to construct the function; you tell me. We want (using the new construction from the edit): $f(x,y)=0.5$ if $x=y$, $f(x,y)=0.25$ if $x=\frac{y}{2}$ and $f(x,y)=0.75$ if $2x=y$. Do you want $f$ to be defined for any other values of $x$ and $y$? If not, we're done. If so, what do you want to do? Incidentally, where are the values of 0.125 and 0.875 coming from? $\endgroup$
    – user5137
    Oct 19, 2011 at 23:07

1 Answer 1

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This function will reproduce your numbers (at least if $a$ and $b$ are positive):

$$f(a,b)= \frac{a}{2b} \text{ when } a \le b$$ $$f(a,b)= 1- f(b,a) \text{ when } a \gt b$$

You can write the latter case as $f(a,b)= \dfrac{2a-b}{2a}$ when $a \ge b$.

You can write both as $\dfrac{1}{2}+\dfrac{(a-b)\times \min(a,b)}{2ab}$.

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  • $\begingroup$ Ah, I was curious about this - whether I needed two different things, one for when a > b, and one for the alternative. Also, good point about a and b being positive - they are, for my purposes. $\endgroup$
    – matt lohkamp
    Oct 19, 2011 at 23:07
  • $\begingroup$ ...and you're right, this does exactly what I want. $\endgroup$
    – matt lohkamp
    Oct 19, 2011 at 23:11

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