Statistics and a bonus quiz

[Chris M]

For those interested in statistics, up to the end of this month the quiz has featured 161 separate locations, with the most appearances by a single location being 9,

Locations that have appeared once 70
Locations that have appeared twice 40
Locations that have appeared three times 17
Locations that have appeared four times 25
Locations that have appeared five times 5
Locations that have appeared six times 2
Locations that have appeared seven times 0
Locations that have appeared eight times 0
Locations that have appeared nine times 2

The bonus question is to identify which 9 stations have appeared five or more times. Answers will be given on the evening of Friday 1st February.

[Colin D]

Any of these on the list? Loughton, Tower Hill, Barking, Baker St, LTM, Oxford Circus, Charing Cross, Whitechaple, Upminister.

[suncloud]

Whitechapel has appeared a good number of times certainly. Is that the 9? Had a few Debdens. Was there enough of those? Puzzling over the others...

[chrish]

East Putney seems to have appeared a few times... not sure if it has hit 5 times yet though...

[Chris M]

Not bad, the answers are:
Stations that have appeared five times (5):
Archway
Edgware
Plaistow
South Kensington
Whitechapel

Stations that have appeared six times (2):
High Street Kensington
Upminster

Stations that have appeared nine times (2):
Baker Street
Waterloo

The stats for the other stations mentioned:
Barking: 2
Charing Cross: 2
Debden: 2
East Putney: 4
Loughton: 4
LTM: The musuem depot has appeared 4 times, the Covent Garden museum has yet to appear.
Oxford Circus: 2
Tower Hill: 3

[Chris M]

No bonus quiz this time round, but per an email request here is another blast of quiz statistics for those of you who like this sort of thing.

All Statistics include all of November, the days in December when the daily quiz will be running (I have no input into CSLR's Christmas quiz) plus four days of January for which I've already set the questions.

Appearances
Total locations used 1 or more times	291
Total appearaces	796
Most appearances by a single location	11
Average appearances	2.16
Median appearances	2.00
Modal appearances	1
Locations that have appeared once	87
Locations that have appeared twice	86
Locations that have appeared three times	37
Locations that have appeared four times	33
Locations that have appeared five times	20
Locations that have appeared six times	15
Locations that have appeared seven times	7
Locations that have appeared eight times	3
Locations that have appeared nine times	1
Locations that have appeared ten times	0
Locations that have appeared eleven times	2
Locations that have appeared twelve times	0
Average number of locations per day	1.16
Types of location
Total current stations*	338
Total current stations used	260
Total current stations not used	78
Total number of locations used that are not current stations**	31
Monthly stats+
Largest number of locations used in a single month+	49 (October 2008)
Largest number of photographers in a single month+	8 (February 2008)
Largest number of backgrounds used in a single month+	22 (August 2008)
Largest number of background photographers in a single month	5 (March 2008)
Future questions++
Total locations with at least 1 picture	281
Total pictures	1883
Average pictures per location	6.7
Median pictures from a location	5.00
Modal pictures from a lotioan	1
Maximum pictures from a single location	40 (Chorleywood)
Locations with 1 picture	50
Locations with 2 pictures	17
Locations with 5 or more pictures	166
Locations with 10 or more pictures	68
Locations with 20 or more pictures	11
locations photographed by me	268
Maximum photos by me	1834
Average photos per location by me	6.84
Maximum locations by another photographer	6 (TMBA)
Maximum photos by another photogrpaher	11 (MRFS)
Highest average photos per location by another photographer	2.2 (MRFS)
Backgrounds
Total number of background used	140
by Chris M	118
by Dmitri	7
by DStock18	2
by Eileen	2
by MRFS42	1
by Robster	1
by SE13	4
by Stuartpalmer	1
by Sundcloud	1
by sydneynick	1
by TMBA	1
from Wikipedia	1
Backgrounds (location)#
Abkhazia	1
Australia	2
Channel Islands	4
East	5
East Anglia	1
East Midlands	6
Germany	2
Greece	1
London	18
Mid Wales	1
New Zealand	1
North East	9
North Wales	5
North West	1
Russia	6
Scotland	6
South	18
South Wales	10
South West	5
Spain	3
West	22
West Midlands	5
Yorkshire	7

*Defined as stations that appear in the index of the October 2008 pocket tube map
** These include museums, sections of track between stations, Isle of Wight stations, LU stock not at stations, closed stations, etc.
+ Since February 2008, these statistics not kept before then and exlcude January 2009
++ These stats do not reflect the total number of photos/locations sent to/produced me as they exlcude those that have been used. This means the averages, etc are also distorted.
# Rough location of where the background image was taken. "East", "South", etc mean "East of England", "South of England", etc.

[CSLR]

Nov 18, 2008 0:53:59 GMT Chris M said:

I have no input into CSLR's Christmas quiz.

May I just clarify one point. Although my name has probably appeared on the Christmas Quiz postings more than others, it is actually a huge team effort. It would never have happened at all if it was not for an incredible post that was started by DavidH 'Special. Like Saturday Night' which is one of my all-time favourite threads on this forum. If you have never seen it, you will find it here:

districtdave.proboards39.com/index.cgi?board=Quizzes&action=display&thread=2848

That thread started as a seemingly simple question that slowly warmed up until it exploded into something completely different. With over 2,800 viewings, it eventually spawned several spin-off threads and lead to The Great Christmas Quiz.

Contributors to The Great Christmas Quiz of 2006 included Central-Simon, Colin, DavidH, Harsig, JulianG, Lloyd, Phil, Seth, TMBA, Tubechallenger, Tubeprune and Version 3.1.

Even more people are involved with The Great Christmas Quiz 2008, including a number of advisors from outside of the forum - that is how complex this thing has become.

Please remember, it is not my quiz, I am only a part of the team.

[Deleted]

As a fairly new member (although lurking for longer) I hadn't seen that thread - I've just spent the best part of an hour reading through it and the linked threads. Absolutely fascinating - wish there could be more! Looking forward to the Christmas Quiz and spending some time delving into the archives for other posts from you, CSLR!

[Chris M]

Nov 18, 2008 14:13:10 GMT CSLR said:

May I just clarify one point. Although my name has probably appeared on the Christmas Quiz postings more than others, it is actually a huge team effort.

My apologies to all involved.

[hotelinspector]

Thanks for these statistics! Love them...!

[Chris M]

A few more statistics for those interested:
As of the 14th of July 2009 -

Number of days quiz has run 869
Number of locations since quiz started* 1077
Average locations per day 1.24

Total locations used 348
Total locations not LU stations** 36
Total current LU stations** 349
Total current LU stations** used 312
Total current LU stations** not used 37

*This is the total number of locations that I have challenged you to identify from pictures, so for example this increases by four on days I ask you to find the odd one out. It does not include those stations identified other than from picutres (e.g. as the fifth in a set).

** This figure includes all currently open LU, Overground and DLR stations (Paddington Praed Street and Bishops Road are counted as 1 location for this purpose, Bank and Monument are counted as 2). Other locations that have been used are disused stations, stations on the Isle Of Wight, LU trains in museums, etc. Most, but not all, were in the early days of the quiz before I had enough photos of current locations, but some are still used for variety.

Not including the photos I took this weekend, the photos I have in reserve cover
Total locations: 316
Total Pictures: 2113
Average pictures per location: 6.69
Maximum pictures from a location: 39
Median pictures from a location: 5.00
Modal pictures from a lotioan: 1
Locations with 0 pictures*** 47
Locations with 1 picture 52
Locations with 2 pictures 26
Locations with 5 or more pictures: 189
Locations with 10 or more pictures: 76
Locations with 20 or more pictures: 10

All the figures are approximate, as sometimes multiple photographs that will be combined into one merged photograph are counted as 1 and sometimes as the number of component photos.

*** This is not completely accurate, as it only counts some stations that I have never had photos for since starting to keep track of unused questions some months into the quiz.

Despite having over 2000 pictures in reserve I do still want your photos!

[Chris M]

By pure coincidence it was exactly a year ago yesterday that I last gave you a burst of statistics regarding the location of the inset pictures.
The figures below include all questions up to the 22nd of November.

There have been a total of 310 backgrounds and insets used. I have tried to find out how many days have had pictures (much less than 310) but it is beyond my skill level, and even Angel Islington's help hasn't succeeded due to my using OpenOffice and it not recognising the Excel pivot tables that she sent me.

Chris

Alphabetical order		By total appearances
Abkhazia	2	West	49
Australia	2	London	44
Canada	3	South	41
Channel Islands	6	South Wales	25
East	14	North East	20
East Anglia	2	East Midlands	15
East Midlands	15	East	14
Germany	2	Russia	14
Greece	1	West Midlands	13
London	44	Scotland	12
Mid Wales	1	Yorkshire	12
New Zealand	1	South West	11
North East	20	North Wales	8
North Wales	8	North West	8
North West	8	Channel Islands	6
Russia	13	Spain	5
Scotland	12	Canada	3
South	41	Abkhazia	2
South Wales	25	Australia	2
South West	11	East Anglia	2
Spain	5	Germany	2
West	49	Greece	1
West Midlands	14	Mid Wales	1
Yorkshire	12	New Zealand	1

Alphabetical order		By total appearances
Chris M	270	Chris M	270
Colin D	3	Dmitri	15
Dmitri	15	SE13	7
DStock18	2	Stuartpalmer	4
Eileen	2	Colin D	3
MRFS42	1	DStock18	2
Robster	2	Eileen	2
SE13	7	Robster	2
Stuartpalmer	4	Sundcloud	2
Sundcloud	2	MRFS42	1
sydneynick	1	sydneynick	1
TMBA	1	TMBA	1
Wikipedia	1	Wikipedia	1

Edited by AI to correct some of the statistics above (with permission of ChrisM)

[angelislington]

Due to my love of Excel [1] I enjoy any kind of exercise in playing around with data [2]. ChrisM was good enough to let me have the raw info and needed help with the dates part of the summary [3], which are below:

2 days had 8 photos each
2 days had 6 photos
3 days had 5 photos
6 days had 4 photos
14 days had 3 photos
23 days had 2 photos
156 days had 1 photo

(total of 311 pics altogether - though these are unique instances of photos being used, rather than 311 pics in total.)

Data is current to 20th Nov (today) but I'm afraid if you're looking for today's answer you'll not get it out of me!



[1] I'm an IT trainer
[2] and I've played around with it so much my tea's gone cold!
[3] due to restrictions in OpenOffice Calc not having pivot tables

[Deleted]

???WHAT!
No pics from the NewKnighted States d' Merica?
Oh, the Humanity!

Not that anyone on the forum could guess - but c'mon Abkhazia?

[mrfs42]

I'm sure if one of our 'murrican members sent some pics in they would be gratefully recieved. I've got to put together a batch for Chris soon, too.

[Chris M]

Indeed, with the exception of the Channel Islands and most of the photos from Spain, the only photos from outside Blighty that have been used are ones that have been sent to me. If you or any other member wants to send me photos to use for the quiz or as backgrounds/insets then I'll gladly take to them. See the sticky thread at the top of the quizzes boards for more detail on what I'm after and what's on-topic and what isn't (but generally anything that is not on topic I can use as a background or inset).

Chris

[Chris M]

A set of stats for you today to mark the 3 year (and 1 week) anniversary of the quiz:
Up to and including today's question:
There have been 1047 daily questions
386 individual locations have appeared as the main question, 345 of them being Underground, Overground or DLR stations.
Based on 356 stations^[1] that leaves 11 such stations that have never appeared, none of which are in zone 1.
1 location has appeared 13 times, two 12 times and 1 ten times. None have appeared exactly 11 times.
71 locations have appeared only once, 89 twice and 70 three times.
The mean average number of appearances is 3.35, the median 3.00 and the modal average 2.
Including multiple appearances, and multiple locations being used on the same day, but not including backgrounds or insets that are not stations themselves, there have been 1330 locations to identify.
This means that over the life of the quiz, there has been an average of 1.27 locations to identify per day.

I currently have 2771 pictures available covering 383 locations (but not always the right ones!).
If I used them all at one a day starting from tomorrow I would run out on the 11 September 2017.
If I used them at the average rate it would take 2182 days, or until 29 January 2016. Both dates assuming the quiz running 365 days a year.

One location last appeared 1087 days ago.
The longest time an Overground station has been waiting for its next appearance is 780 days, the longest for an Underground station is 714 days, the longest for a DLR station is a mere 529 days.

I'm currently just starting an advanced spreadsheets course, so in future (by the end of July is the target) I might be able to provide some statistics that are beyond my current skill level to find from the way the data is structured (poorly as it has evolved rather than being planned!). With any luck these will include average appearances by zone and by line, if there are any you would like to see then let me know and I'll see what I can do (but I make no guarantees whatsoever!) - this thread is probably the best place to do so.

[1] I can't remember how I arrived at this figure, but I'm pretty sure includes the stations on the Ongar branch of the Central.

[Chris M]

If I've got my stats right (very likely but not guaranteed), all currently-open Underground stations have now appeared in the quiz at least once. A bonus mark for anyone who can identify which was the last of the bunch make it's first appearance.

Bonus marks are also available for working out which four current London Overground stations (i.e. excluding the ones on the extended ELL) have not yet appeared.

[rincew1nd]

PM sent.

[Chris M]

Rincew1nd's guess was at the last LU station to debut was not correct, so all points are still up for grabs.

[Colin D]

Could it be Perivale that's the last station to make it's first appearance?

[SE13]

I haven't actually got the foggiest either, although I have every answer from whenever it was that I started to assist, which must be shoving three years now!

I don't recall Holloway Road previously, but again I might be wrong. Chesham is another that might be in the frame.

Knowing Chris as I do, I would hazard a guess that the last location was slipped in a couple (or more) weeks ago, so maybe Goodge Street?

[Chris M]

Perivale was indeed the last LU station to debut, doing so on Monday.
Holloway Road first appeared on 31/10/2007, it being the station with the name closest to "Halloween", however it didn't appear between 29/07/08 and yesterday, which is probably why you're thinking of it.
Chesham has appeared twice so far, the first time on 25/02/2008.
Goodge Street has also appeared twice, debuting on 16/09/2009 - it was the last Zone 1 station to appear though

The firsts and lasts for the zones (excluding stations yet to appear) are:

Zone[1]	1st stn	last stn
1	Paddington	Goodge Street
2	Willesden Green[2]	Imperial Wharf[3]
3	Walthamstow Central	Tooting Broadway
4	Woodford	Perivale
5	Oakwood	Headstone Lane[4]
6	Upminster	Northwood
7	Croxley	Chorleywood
8	Chalfont & Latimer	Bushey
9	Chesham	Amersham

Notes:
1: Stations in more than one zone are counted with the lower one
2: Appeared on day 1
3: Final current LU station to debut: Clapham Common, final station to debut that was open as of 01/02/2007: Finchley Road and Frognal
4: Final current LU station to debut: Northolt

First and last DLR stations to debut were: Langdon Park and Royal Albert
First and last Overground stations to debut were: Kentish Town West and Headstone Lane

SE13 - see the bottom of the April answer sheet for answers to the LO part of this bonus quiz.

[rincew1nd]

What about the first and last station to appear that is outside the zones?

As for the Overground station yet to appear:

• Hampstead Heath
  
• Wanstead Park
  
• Upper Holloway
  
• Hackney Wick

[Chris M]

You've got one of the four Overground stations correct.

As for stations outside the zones. Of the stations on-topic for the quiz, the only ones outside the zones are Watford Junction (which I count as being in zone 9 for the quiz) and the Isle of Wight stations.
Of the latter, Ryde St John's Road appeared on 20/02/2007 and Shanklin appeared on 5/7/2007. As of today (Wednesday) they are the only ones to appear, and both have been seen only once.

The Ongar branch is on topic for the quiz, but none of the stations have yet appeared. AIUI the current zonal status of these stations is probably best described as "undefined". Unless anyone knows any better, I'll call Coopersdale and North Weald Zone 7, with Blake Hall and Ongar in zone 8.

[Deleted]

What is the status of stations beyond Amersham (to Verney Junction and Brill), which I would expect to be 'on-topic'?

[Chris M]

Well the disused stations are on-topic, but the ones that are now in use by mainline rail are not (except photos from when they were Met stations). I will probably have to invent a zone 10 or something to group them!

[Chris M]

The stats for today, correct up to the 5th June, show the number of stations and disused stations used, per zone, since the start of the quiz. There are 376 locations in my database that fit this criteria, 355 of them have been used (most of the ones that haven't are the new extended ELL stations)
You'll have to go to www.sucs.org/~cmckenna/photos/quizes/tqstats/zonesused-asof20100605.html to actually see the stats, as I can't find an automatic html table -> bb table converter that produces workable output (the html was generated by pasting a data pilot table (pivot table equivalent) from open office calc to open office writer and then saving as .html, so it's not pretty code!).

Click here to see the stats

[Chris M]

I've just been collating the stats on the link between four/find the odd one out from four questions used in the quiz (since I started keeping records in August 2008, I'll go back and find earlier ones someday!)

Between 4th August 2008 and 30 June 2010 then there have been 73 of these questions, 30 of them have had an odd one out and 4 have asked you to find the 5th in the set.

Brixton, Stratford and Victoria, have all been the odd one out on two occasions each, no station has had this honour 3 times. The station appearing as the 5th in the set has been different each time.

I've also classified the links into categories, with each question having 1 or 2 categories -

Type of Link	Times used
Access	3
Bus	5
Culture	4
Geography	2
History	5
Interchanges	13
International	2
Lines	10
Local area	9
Name	16
National Rail	5
Open/Close	4
Platforms	10
Quiz	1
River	2
Roads[/TD}[TD]1
Station building	10
Trains

[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD]Zones[/TD][TD]4[/TD][/TR]
[/TABLE]

[Chris M]

A stranger statistic today.
From the first day of the quiz (1st February 2007) to the 24th of this month (the last day currently uploaded) the quiz photos and answer files take up just under 6.2 gigabytes. This would require 4388 1.44 megabyte floppy disks (all but one of which filled to capacity).
4,388 floppy disks would make a tower 13.164 metres high - almost exactly the same height (to within a centimetres) as 3 Routemaster buses!