Original: Aug 2013
Modified: Sept 2015 to include Numpy version
Reposted: Jan 2016
General references
- http://webspace.ship.edu/pgmarr/Geo441/Lectures/Lec%2016%20-%20Directional%20Statistics.pdf
- http://ncss.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/themes/ncss/pdf/Procedures/NCSS/Circular_Data_Analysi...
- SciPy implementation scipy/morestats.py at master · scipy/scipy ·GitHublines 2601 - 2642 using complex numbers
When working with angles or time (minutes, days, months or years) the mean (average) of a list of values can't be determined in the same fashion as we normally do. This example show one how to calculate the values of angles (azimuths specifically). The function can be used in any script once the circular_mean.py script is imported.
I will get around to other descriptive measures for circular data but they are covered in the references
"""
CircularMean
Author: Dan.Patterson@carleton.ca
Date: Aug 2013
Modified: Sept 2015
Purpose:
To calculate the mean (average) for points along a circle using the
angular measure to these points from the center of the circle
Notes:
If the angles are given in degrees then there is no need to convert
If the units are time, such as hours (24 hour clock) or months (12) then
these need to be converted by
angle in degrees = time quantity / number of equal intervals
ie 0.5 = (12 hours / 24 hours per day)
or 180 degrees
required modules
numpy, math
"""
import math
import numpy as np
def circ_mean(angles):
"""angles in degrees"
"""
cosList = []
cosSum = 0.0
sinSum = 0.0
for i in angles:
theCos = math.cos(math.radians(float(i)))
theSin = math.sin(math.radians(float(i)))
cosSum += theCos
sinSum += theSin
N = len(angles)
C = cosSum/N
S = sinSum/N
theMean = math.atan2(S,C)
if theMean < 0.0:
theMean += math.radians(360.0)
return theMean
def circ_mean_np(angles,azimuth=True):
""" numpy version of above"""
rads = np.deg2rad(angles)
av_sin = np.mean(np.sin(rads))
av_cos = np.mean(np.cos(rads))
ang_rad = np.arctan2(av_sin,av_cos)
ang_deg = np.rad2deg(ang_rad)
if azimuth:
ang_deg = np.mod(ang_deg,360.)
return ang_rad, ang_deg
if __name__ == "__main__":
sampleData = [ [350,10],
[350, 5],
[355, 10],
[90,270],
[180,0],
[180,360],
[0,360],
[90,180,270]
]
print("\nCircular Mean Demo...python version\n")
frmt ="{:15s}{:15s}{:15s}"
print(frmt.format("angles", "Mean radians", "Mean degrees"))
for angles in sampleData:
theMean = circ_mean(angles)
args = (angles, theMean, math.degrees(theMean))
print("{!s:>15}{:>12.4}{:>15.4}".format(*args))
print("\nCircular Mean Demo...numpy version\n")
frmt ="{:15s}{:15s}{:15s}"
print(frmt.format("angles", "Mean radians", "Mean degrees"))
#
for angles in sampleData:
result = circ_mean_np(angles)
print("{!s:>15}{:>12.4f}{:>15.1f}".format(angles, result[0],result[1]))
Results from both
angles Mean radians Mean degrees
[350, 10] 6.283 360.0
[350, 5] 6.24 357.5
[355, 10] 0.04363 2.5
[90, 270] 3.142 180.0
[180, 0] 1.571 90.0
[180, 360] 4.712 270.0
[0, 360] 6.283 360.0
[90, 180, 270] 3.142 180.0