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From: richa@ios.UUCP (Rich Altmaier)
Newsgroups: net.puzzle
Subject: average wind direction puzzle
Message-ID: <146@ios.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 11-Jul-84 16:28:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: ios.146
Posted: Wed Jul 11 16:28:41 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Jul-84 02:16:04 EDT
Organization: Integrated Office Systems, Cupertino CA
Lines: 11

Consider measuring wind direction with an instrument that gives compass
angles (e.g. 0..359 degrees).  Suppose you wish to take several readings
and give an average wind direction.  What's a good algorithm for this?

If you take a set of readings and just numerically average the values,
you may find you never get results near 0/360 and you get lobes near
180 (which won't be correct).  Consider a reading set such as
355, 359, 3, 1.  Average wind direction is about 359 degrees.

	R. Altmaier
	{qubix, oliveb, decwrl}!ios!richa