Rick F Guyon - Measures of Central Tendency - Richard F Guyon

Measures of Central Tendency

It is often unnecessary to present the experimental data in their entirety, either in tabular or graphical form. In such cases, the data and distribution can be represented by various parameters. One type of parameter is a measure of central tendency, Mode, median, and mean are measures of central tendency.

The mode is the observed value that occurs most frequently. The mode may vary greatly between series of observations. Therefore, its main use is a quick measure of the central value since little or no computation is required to find it. Beyond this, the usefulness of the mode is limited.

The median is the point in the distribution that partitions the total set of observations into two parts containing equal numbers of observations. It is not influenced by the extremity of scores on either side of the distribution. The median is found by counting up (from either end of the frequency distribution) until half of the observations have been accounted for.

Similar in concept tot he median are percentiles (percentile ranks) quartiles and deciles. The median could also have been called the 50th percentile observation. Similarly, the 50th percentile would be the observed value for which the cumulative frequency was 80%. The quartile and decile points on the distribution divide the observations or distribution into segments off 25% and 10%, respectively.

Rick F Guyon - Road Safety Features - Richard F Guyon

Road safety features are installed to protect public life and property and to reduce traffic-related lawsuits against highway and transportation departments. The most common actions include the installation of illumination, guardrails, and impact attenuators, as well as the relocation of dangerous facilities.

Guardrails are used on roadways where there is a severe slope or vertical dropoff to the side of the road, ditches, permanent bodies of water, embankments, and roadside obstacles. Guardrails with turned-down ends are now prohibited in new installations and should be upgraded. Such guardrails, rather than protecting motorists from a fixed impact or spearing, often cause vaulting and subsequent rollover.

Rick F Guyon - Richard F Guyon - Road Safety

Rick F Guyon - Differential Equations - Convolution Integral - Richard F Guyon

Rick F Guyon - A complex Laplace transform, F(s), will often be recognized as the product of two other transforms, F1(s) and F2(s), whose corresponding functions fi(f) and f2(t) are known. Unfortunately, Laplace transforms cannot be computed with ordinary multiplication. However, it is possible to extract f(t) from the convolution, as calculated from either of the convolution integrals.

Rick F Guyon - Convolution Integral - Richard F Guyon 

Rick F Guyon - Braking and Deceleration Rate - Richard F Guyon

Rick F Guyon - Continuing on this series on Vehicle Dynamics is Braking and Deceleration Rate.

The maximum deceleration that can be developed in dry weather by a vehicle with tires and brakes in good condition is about 25 ft/sec. (Acceleration and deceleration are sometimes specified in miles per hour per second, or kilometers per hour per second. Multiply mphps by 1.467 to obtain ft/sec and multiply kphps by 0.278 to obtain m/s2. However decelerations of 14 ft/sec are experienced by occupants as uncomfortable and alarming. 11 ft/sec is the appropriate upper limit of desirable decelerations,  and approximately 9ft/sec is the maximum comfortable deceleration from high-speed travel.

Rick F Guyon - You Need to Travel! - Richard F Guyon

It's crazy when you read about the stats of Americans who have never travelled outside of their county....let alone outside of their state...let alone out of the country. It's absolutely absurd. EVERYONE NEEDS TO TRAVEL.

Ok...why is travel so important?

• The only thing you take with you are memories....material things means absolutely nothing.

• You gain a different look on things. When you live in your little small town only knowing a one group or a specific group of people your view on things that are outside of that circle are very narrow minded. Traveling the world and learning about other cultures, learning new languages and seeing new things is how we learn.

When a baby is still new he/she puts everything in his mouth. He wants to see everything, touch everything...this is how we learn. If you don't expand your mind and/or your horizons then what have you learned? What have you gained?

Rick F Guyon - The Rat Race & Corporate Politics

Ever notice how there are so many get quick rich schemes and yet....very few actually get rich from them? Because it's not a everyone get rich quick scheme and even those that do well know that you don't get rich quick. People are so captivated by reality tv that allows regular people to gaze into the lives of millionaires or billionaires because it allows them to have a taste of their life style without the amount of work required...

It boggles my mind!

I listen to very few speakers because everyone talks about working hard...but it really is about working smart. It's easy to say...work hard and you will be rich but that's a lie and you and I both know that. You can work hard at McDonalds all your life and have very little to show for it. You can be the best employee at a company and never get a promotion. When has hard work and recognition every been paired together? The rat race means office politics and that means playing smart.

It's been a while since I've been in the corporate grind of things as being my own boss has allowed me to live peacefully in the mountains BUT for many of you I know it's daunting. Learn the ways of the office...who to talk to and who not to talk to. What events to attend and what to say. It might seem silly but it's not...

Richard F Guyon - Rat Race

Rick F Guyon - Genetically Modified Food.

Rick F Guyon - Now I'm no scientists....but I wonder if people truly care about the whole GMO thing or is it just a fad to distract the 99% of some serious other issues or things that are happening right now. 

As much as people want to talk about Monsanto...the US Market's fish supply is all genetically modified. All of our meat is genetically modified....unless otherwise stated. All of our veggies are genetically modified. And even if a farmer did not have that intention it's not impossible for those plants to cross breed with a genetically modified plant causing its offspring to be genetically modified. Ok...so where do you start? Where do you go? What do you eat?

Good question. Let me know when you figure that one out.

Rick F Guyon - Things in Perspective

Rick F Guyon - When you look up at the night sky….you are looking at the past. The nearest sun closest to our sun takes 4 years for its light to reach us. That means that what we see is the remains of light from 4 years ago. Think about it. The universe is so vast and expansive….and we know little to nothing about it. Just to think we don’t even know our own bodies. We don’t have the cure to cancer….you haven’t explored the oceans. Our technological advances have really just come within the last 100 years.

When you think about it makes you think about what we do know. How little we know. And with that small ounce of knowledge we do have maybe we shouldn’t assume to know it all.

Rick F Guyon - Taking the time to just breath

Rick F Guyon - Soooooo today I woke up and admired the natural beauty of my home. Sometimes we get carried away with what we have to do. Whether it's the next research project, the next step, all the tasks and errands we have for the day....it's hard to just stop and breathe.

There is a saying I love. It says:

"Don't take life too seriously...It's not like you are going to make it out alive."

Makes you stop and chuckle. The only thing that comes to us all is death and taxes. So chill out...take 10 minutes out of your day to admire where you are and your life so far. Then when that is all done you can go back to your hectic day. I have a lot of work to do today but I know I am a lot more productive when I'm in a restful state of mind. - Richard F Guyon