Intersection algorithm: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:37, 27 December 2020

Revision as of 04:55, 14 March 2021

Line 7:

==Method==

Given ''M'' intervals of the form ''c''&nbsp;±&nbsp;''r'' (which means [''c''&minus;''r'',''c''+''r'']), the algorithm seeks to find an interval with ''M''&minus;''f'' sources. The value ''f'' is referred to as the number of falsetickers, those sources which are in error (the actual value is outside the [[confidence band]]). The best estimate is that which assumes the least number offewest falsetickers, ''f''. The results will be considered valid if ''f''&nbsp;<&nbsp;''M''/2, otherwise the algorithm will return failure instead of an interval.

The intersection algorithm begins by creating a table of tuples <offset, type>. For each interval there are three entries: the lower endpoint, the midpoint and the upper endpoint, labelled with types &minus;1, 0 and +1 respectively. Thus the interval ''c''&nbsp;±&nbsp;''r'' results in the entries <''c''&minus;''r'',&minus;1>, <''c'',0> and <''c''+''r'',+1>. These entries are then sorted by offset.