Dear List,

I have encountered calculation errors in MapInfo 5.5.  I have a dozens of
point data sets, which have upwards of hundreds of thousands of points in
any one layer.  The data is reported from surveys at roughly 1-minute *
1-minute grid intervals.  I have a need to sum the points within 1, 2, 4,
etc. minute grid squares, as well as count the number of points within these
grid cells, there can be hundreds.

I can guarantee that all the points within a cell are counted and summed
because the reporting information is recorded at a 1 minute grid
intersection in a Lat/Long projection, and my grid cell based aggregation is
offset by 1/2 degree to capture all points within the grid square.  For a
1-minute grid all the points are in the center of the grid square.

My problem comes when using the Sum and Count functions in the SQL Select
form window.  The results in the New Columns for Count and Sum of the data
points attached to the grid polygons are way off.  Specifically.  The count
result is actually the square (i.e. - count * count) of what the real count
of the points within the grid polygon should be, and the sum result is equal
to the sum * the real count or the (sum * ((count)^1/2)) or the sum times
the square root of the count.  I can fix the results by adding two extra
steps to my process but I don't think I should have to fix basic math errors
in MapInfo.  When you can't count on the math library functions being
written properly what's left??

Has anyone else found this problem?  Would there be anyone out there willing
to confirm this error with MapInfo 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 to let me know that, for
one it's not just me, and that hopefully a newer version has this fixed, if
not hopefully MapInfo 7.0 will fix it.

If anyone out there would like to help me test this on different version let
me know and I can provide you with a more formal description to build test
datasets.  The tool I use to create the grids is 'gridmake.exe' a great tool
for making grids, as it doesn't have the limit on the number of cells it can
create as the grid tool that comes with MapInfo.

Thanks in advance,

Stan Johnston B.Sc.
Geologist



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