Diversity Calculation in Excel – Diversity Indices and True Diversity

Diversity-IndicesIn my video “Diversity Index as Business KPI – The Concept of Diversity” I explain the mathematical concept of diversity introducing the Simpson Index λ and its complement (1-λ) as a measure of product diversification in markets.

Beside the Simpson Index there are many other indices used to describe diversity. I have developed a simple Diversity Excel template to calculate a couple of diversity indices for up to 20 categories. The following diversity indices are calculated:

  • Richness
  • Shannon entropy
  • Shannon equitability
  • Simpson dominance
  • Gini-Simpson Index
  • Berger-Parker Index
  • Hill numbers (“true diversity”) and Renyi entropy of order one to four

For a quick calculation of diversity indices you might also use my online calculator

For calculation of Shannon entropy and its partitioning into independent alpha and beta components  see here.

Any feedback is welcome!

Welcome to BPMSG – Dec 2012

Dear Friends, dear Visitors,

yesterday I realized 10000 visits on my website since April 2012, when I implemented the Piwik web statistics. Over the last couple of months the daily visitor frequency was actually increasing, doubling within the last 3 months. On my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/bpmsg I am now slowly reaching 100,000 video views.

So first to all of you a big thank you, showing interest in the topics of bpmsg.com, and especially to those of you,  giving me feedback, as I can learn and progress from there. For me it also means to stay committed and keep the content interesting and updated.

The topic with the highest interest is AHP – the analytic hierarchy process, and many of you downloaded my AHP excel template. Actually, here I would really like even more feedback about your applications, just to get an idea, in what other areas my template is used. Some of them, as I received, are:

  • Asset management prioritisation
  • BPMSG AHP template as a teaching tool
  • Weights of textual elements that affect difficulty of a given text
  • Environmental quality
  • Threads to biodiversity
  • Green supply chain

In my last update of the template  I improved the accuracy of calculation  significantly, so please always use the latest version, and revisit the site from time to time, to get the latest update. Alternatively you might subscribe to the bpmsg newsfeed; the link is given in the footer of the page.

My latest topic “Diversity index as business KPI – the concept of diversity” seems also to gain some interest. My video on youtube  got in a short time more viewers than the previous video about operational and strategic business performance. For me it was intersting to apply the diversity concept in business performance, as I haven’t seen this before, and the mathematical concept, to measure diversity of species in a habitat (biodiversity), is quite well established . I am thinking to publish a second video, showing more practical applications of the diversity concept in a business context.

After starting my youtube channel in 2009, I gained more and more experience in making videos. You can  clearly see the difference, comparing one of my older videos with the latest ones. Now my camcorder – a Canon XA10 – is with me most of the time on my business trips or vacations. Therefore you also find some video travel impressions on this web site under the topic “others”. My last trip was to the Philippines showing the nice island of Bohol, as well as one of the world’s largest crater lakes on a lake on an island – Lake Taal.

Klaus Goepel,
Singapore, Dec 2012

BPMSG stands for Business Performance Management Singapore. As of now, it is a non-commercial website, and information is shared for educational purposes. Please see licensing conditions and terms of use. Please give credit or a link to my site, if you use parts in your website or blog.

About the author

Updated AHP Excel Template Version 11.12.12

AHP IconDue to feedback from several users, I revised the implementation of the power method for the calculation of the Eigenvector and Eigenvalue to improve the accuracy of my AHP excel template. The calculation sheet ‘8×8 in the workbook was completely reworked. My tests show a significant increase in accuracy. As an example see my updated post AHP template – numerical accuracy.

By default the number of iterations is now set to 12.  The check value in sheet ‘8×8 cell B33 shows the sum of all matrix elements solving the Eigenvalue equation (AI*λ) x = 0 with A the Decision matrix, λ = estimated principal Eigenvalue and x = estimated Eigenvector. The ideal check value is zero. With the example numbers given in the template the result is 5E-08.

Please let me know, if  you find any problems in the new version.

For the download of the latest version please go to the AHP template download page .

Practical Experience with Canon XA-10

XA-10

Since a few months I use the Canon XA-10 camcorder to take the videos on this website, and when traveling. The video about the diversity index as business KPI, and the trip to the Philippines, visiting Bohol Island and Lake Taal, I shoot with the XA-10.

Overall I am quite o.k. with it, but a few details – like for example the tiny custom assignable buttons – are less satisfying. Now I am working on a review to share my experience. Stay tuned – and thanks for visiting.

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