About Index

• [Index (publishing)], a detailed list, usually arranged alphabetically, of the specific information in a publication
• [Index card]s in a [rolodex] or old [library catalog], early and mid 20th century technologies for maintaining such lists
• [Index (mathematics)], for various meanings of the word in mathematics
• [Index (economics)], a single number calculated from an array of prices and quantities.
• [Index, Washington], a town in [Snohomish County, Washington], [Washington], [United States].
• [Index (typography)], a largely obsolete punctuation mark

• [Index Librorum Prohibitorum], a list of publications which the Catholic Church censored
• Germany's List of Media Harmful to Young People, colloquially known as The Index, published by the [Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien]
• [Index Magazine], was a prominent [New York City] based publication for [art] and [culture].
• [Truman State University Index], the weekly [newspaper] distributed at [Truman State University] and throughout the [Kirksville, Missouri], [Missouri] community.
• The Index, the student newspaper of [Kalamazoo College], published since [1877].
• [The Index (journal)], a European propaganda journal created by [Henry Hotze] to support the [Confederate States of America] during the [American Civil War].

• [Index (database)], a feature in a computerized database which allows quick access to the rows in a table
• [Index (information technology)], in computer science, either an integer which identifies an array element, or a data structure which enables fast lookup
• [Index (search engine)], for supporting information retrieval in search engines
• [Webserver directory index], a default or index web page in a directory on a web server, such as index.html
• [Subject indexing], describing the content of a document by keywords

• The Index, an item on the [Halo (megastructure)] in the Halo series of video games.
• [The Index (skyscraper)], a tower under construction in [Dubai].
• [Index (retailer)], a defunct UK catalogue retailer formerly owned by the Littlewoods group and known as Littlewoods Index
• [Index finger], The second [digit] of a human [hand] is also referred to as the index finger, pointer finger, forefinger, digitus secundus, or digitus II.
• [Index fund], a collective investment scheme
• [Indexicality], in linguistics, the variation of meaning of an utterance according to certain features of the context in which it is uttered

Index

Questions and Answers

index problems?

Q) a warning keeps coming up on my screen the disk containing your index is almost full free up space or find another location i dont no were or what my index is new to computing please help

A) no1: information is power. How do you expect anyone to help fix your pc when: We can't see it? You haven't told us the OS, version, what you were doing when the message appeared, the *exact* error message etc etc etc. At a guess, you're using Google Desktop on a pc and you've almost filled up your hard drive??? You need to do a bit of cleaning of old files, remove unused programs, defrag the drive and change the settings for GD's indexing. Or buy a bigger hard drive.

how do I index an existing varaible in SQL?

Q) I have a large database with an existing URN field but it is not indexed, I need to index the URN field so I can run the data in another program, which runs quicker when you index the URN

A) If you have a graphical management tool, it's easiest to add fulltext indexing to a column that way. For SQL Server 2000, use Enterprise Manager For SQL Server 2005, use SQL Server Management Studio For MySQL, use MySQL Administrator, phpMyAdmin or similar.

US Bond Index?

Q) Does anyone know whether there is an index that I can find on Bloomberg that tracks all US Government bonds - equivalent to the FTSE All Gilt Index for the UK?

A) Lehman Brothers has a Government/Treasury index. So does Merrill. Both are available through Bloomberg.

index finger?

Q) please help me settle a dispute with my little sister, at 22 im 10 years her senior and we r arguing about wat 1s our index finger, she says its the middle 1 but im sure its the 1 u point with (nearest ya thumb?). whos wrong?

A) you r correct gold star!!! its the one near your thumb

Index-linked savings certificates for 3 years?

Q) I have 15 k to put away for 3 to 5 years already have isasi have been looking at index -linked savings but don't mind a bit of risk what do you think thank you .

A) If you don't mind the risk, a high yield bond fund might do better. Index-linked savings certificates seem to produce about 3-4% per annum, but a high yield bond fund produces about 6-8% per annum. But as you can see, you're just trading off risk for return, which is a fundamental law of finance. I looked up information about the Index-linked savings certificates and they look like a good safe short term investment to me.

Ref: SAP. Is a low carbon index better than a high index ?

Q) British Government SAP2001 gives results of SAP rating and carbon index. Is high SAP rating better than low?. Is low carbon index better than high?

A) using an index metric, the higher score is better.

Using index files on a web site?

Q) Some people argue that having your domain DNS pointing to an index file is at best pointless and at worst counter productive because it interferes with search engine crawlers. Do you agree and if so, what other way is there to organise the web site?

A) it certainly limits what you can do with your site and remain functional with search engines. because index files are the default files looked for within a directory it is pointless to use specific pages linked to your dns entries with your domain host. plus, say you switch to *.php or *.jsp pages for your site? you just gotta go changing a whole bunch of stuff to match where if you just point to directories, the browser will do the rest. i think when initially designing your page/site, as long as you choose a directory structure which lends itself to future re-designs that won't affect outdated search results too much then you're saving yourself alot of work down the road.

list index out of bounds!?

Q) Every time I log on to my computer, I get an error message 'list index out of bounds' How can I get rid of it?

A) Its a runtime error generated by a program List indexes are set at -1 when empty, The first index number is actually 0 and not 1 as you may think (Its a C++ or Java thing) The program is expecting something to be in the list when it is empty. The program is not checking the contents of the list before attempting to read part of it (bad programming practice). You may have installed a program recently (which you need to remove and reinstall (correctly) Without more info sorry I cant be more help

How do you find the refractive index as a ray travels from glass to water with the given information?

Q) refractive index of air = 1.003 refractive index of glass = 1.49 refractive index of air = 1.33 Is the answer 0.89?

A) I'm not quite sure what your question is, because you've given a list of refractive indices for glass and air(two different values for air) and given a completely different answer to them all. Btw, refractive index of air = 1.003 refractive index of water = 1.33 I'll try to help you anyway, by giving you some of the most important info in this area of physics. The most importantion equation you need to learn is: n1*sin(theta1) = n2*sin(theta2) Now, you probably need to know what each part is. n1 is the refactive index of medium 1 n2 is the refractive index of medium2 If a light ray travels through a medium1 and hits a medium2 at an angle, the angle between the ray and the normal is theta1 the angle between the refracted ray and the normal is theta2 theta1 and theta2 will usually be different because when a ray passes into a medium with a higher refractive index (a denser medium) it will bend away from the normal because it slows down. Hope this helps, if not feel free to ask for more info Good luck

Right index finger turned white twice yesterday?

Q) Have never had this before but yesterday, my right index finger turned a deathly white twice, for about ten/fifteen minutes and was really distinguishable from the other fingers which wre pink and also felt a little cold to the touch... what is this?? Could it be something serious? Thank you :-)

A) White finger. More often than not this is caused by lack of circulation to the finger. Dont know how you get it but you should take your finger to the docs.

This is my error on- for(index = 0; index <7 index++) "expected error"Java Programming?

Q) import java.util.*; public class ArrayOfAges { /**Reads in 0-15 Ages and show which are above and which are below the average of the 15 Ages. */ public static void main(String[]args) { double[]Ages=new double[15]; int index; double sum, average; Scanner keyboard=new Scanner(System.in); System.out.println("Enter Ages numbers(0-15):"); in index=keyboard.nextInt(); System.out.println("Enter Ages for theDay"+index); Ages[index]=keyboard.nextDouble(); sum=0 for(index = 0; index <7 index++) { Ages[]index=keyboard.nextDouble(); sum=sum+Ages[index]; } Ages=sum/15; System.out.println("the average Ages is " + average); System.out.println("The Ages are"); for(index=0;index<15; index++) { if(Ages[index]<average) System.out.println( Ages[index]+"below average."); else if (Ages[index] >average) System.out.println( Ages[index]+"above average."); else//Ages[index]==average System.out.println( Ages[index]+"the average."); } System.out.println("Have a nice week."); } } I add semicolon it still has the expected error still I try this it has expected on their still on what you have given me: for(index = 0; index <7; index++) { Ages[]index to for( index = 0; index < Ages.Length; index++ ) { Ages[index]

A) You forgot a semicolon. for(index = 0; index <7; index++)

Since stock index funds buy the same stocks as the index, won't their prices become artificially inflated?

Q) My understanding of the DOW or S&P500 index funds is that if GE represents say 1% of the S&P500, it will represent 1% of the value of the S&P500 index funds. Since many people invest in these index funds to represent the market, won't any company in the index be artificially inflated in price due to heightened demand? Another way to ask this is: Do companies that join an index experience a bump in share price & do companies that leave experience a drop within a short amount of time? Thanks!

A) "Another way to ask this is: Do companies that join an index experience a bump in share price & do companies that leave experience a drop within a short amount of tim" Yes, there's a well known "index-effect". There's even a bit of a game of trying to guess which companies will be added to the index. Companies are deleted from the index usually because of acquisition, or bankruptcy. Very rarely are they "just deleted", so a "deletion effect" is less common.

Index a permutation - tough problem?? please help...!?

Q) I need to index a permutation of 6 objects, and I need a relatively closed form expression (not a recursive function). i.e. here is the first few permutations, and their associated index: Index .....Permutation 1.............123456 2.............123465 3.............123546 4.............123564 5.............124356 etc. I need a formula or algorithm that for a given index it will return the permutation. So, in the example, for an index 4, the algorithm/function will return a '1' for the first digit, a '2' for the second, '3' for third, '5' for fourth etc. Note: it need not follow the above example pattern - it just has to be such that all possible permutations are uniquely indexable. Nice one Phineas... smart guy. It's an almost perfect answer - except the positional index changes as you add digits, which makes the algorithm a little bit more involved (to code)... eg, to code it in something like excel you would need a macro. I think though it may be as close as is possible. Thanks a lot, I owe you a pint!

A) This is a little messy, but I think it works. I will show how to transform a permutation to an index and then describe how to go the other way. Let's number the positions in the permutation as follows and start the current index at 1: _ _ _ _ _ _ 5 4 3 2 1 0 Current Index = 1 (I am going to start with current index = 1, so the smallest index will be 1. We will have to remember to subtract 1 when we want to convert an index back to a permutation). (Let's hope Yahoo! does not mess up my formatting). Now pick a position for the 6 and add (position number)*(6-1)! = (position number)*120 to the index. For example, let's put 6 in position 3. Now we let's number the remaining places as follows: _ _ 6 _ _ _ 4 3 _ 2 1 0 Current Index = 1 + 360 = 361 Now pick a position for the 5 and add (position number)*(5-1)! = (position number)*24 to the index. For example, let's put 5 in position 0. Now we let's number the remaining places as follows: _ _ 6 _ _ 5 3 2 _ 1 0 _ Current Index = 360 + 0*24 = 361 Now pick a position for the 4 and add (position number)*(4-1)! = (position number)*6 to the index. For example, let's put 4 in position 3. Now we let's number the remaining places as follows: 4 _ 6 _ _ 5 _ 2 _ 1 0 _ Current Index = 361 + 3*6 = 379 Now pick a position for the 3 and add (position number)*(3-1)! = (position number)*2 to the index. For example, let's put 3 in position 1. Now we let's number the remaining places as follows: 4 _ 6 3 _ 5 _ 1 _ _ 0 _ Current Index = 379 + 1*2 = 381 Now pick a position for the 2 and add (position number)*(2-1)! = (position number)*1 to the index. For example, let's put 2 in position 1. Now we let's number the remaining places as follows: 4 2 6 3 _ 5 _ _ _ _ 0 _ Current Index = 381 + 1 = 382 Now there is only one position left so 1 goes there and we have the permutation 4 2 6 3 1 5 and index 382. We can now reverse these steps, by taking the index 382 and subtracting 1 to get 381. Then we divide by 5! to get 3 remainder 21. That tells us to put 6 in position 3 so we have: _ _ 6 _ _ _ Now we use the remainder, 21, to place the rest of the numbers. Dividing 21 by 4!, we get 0 remainder 21, so 5 goes in spot 0 and we have: _ _ 6 _ _ 5 Now we use the remainder, 21, to place the rest of the numbers. Dividing 21 by 3!, we get 3 remainder 3, so 4 goes in spot 3 and we have: 4 _ 6 _ _ 5 Now we use the remainder, 3, to place the rest of the numbers. Dividing 4 by 2!, we get 1 remainder 1, so we place 3 in spot 1 4 _ 6 3 _ 5 Finally, we divide 1 by 1 and get 0 remainder, so 2 goes in spot 1 and we place 1 in the last remaining spot and we are have: 4 2 6 3 1 5 I hope that makes sense. Note that it has the neat property that the permuation 1 2 3 4 5 6 corresponds to index 1 and in general the indices of the permutations are in the same order as the permutations themselves (if the permutations are viewes as six digit numbers).

Refractive Index?

Q) Would a temperature change affect the refractive index and if so, how? Select the best explanation from those shown. a. At higher temperatures, the liquid would evaporate and the refractive index could not be measured accurately. b. No, the refractive index is temperature independent. c. Yes, a decrease in temperature would decrease the refractive index. d. Yes, a decrease in temperature would increase the refractive index.

A) the first two answers are incorrect answer number one notes the fact that the RI value is wavelength dependant but neglects the fact that it is also temperature dependant and answer number 2 is wrong because it doesn't take in consideration the relationship between RI and Temperature. which is the fact that indexes of refraction and temparture are inversly proportional to one another which means when one goes up the other goes down and vice versa. That is why one must make adjustmments to the RI number when they get it if it wasn't taken at about 20C therefore, letter D should be correct

Matlab, index of minimum values in array along one dimension?

Q) Assume I=n*m*p [n=2, m=2, p=3 for example below] I(:,:,1) = 8 26 40 80 I(:,:,2) = 43 18 91 26 I(:,:,3) = 15 87 14 58 I want to create a matrix that shows the index of the minimum value going across the 3rd coordinate. For example, for above it would be J=[1 2 3 2] Since [8, 43, 15] has min at index 1 [26, 18, 87] has min at index 2 [40, 91, 14] has min at index 3 [80, 26, 58] has min at index 2 I can do it with a double for loop, but would like to know how to do it vectorized, as the first two dimensions could be quite big. (The third dimension <10). Thanks! -MIke

A) You just need to read the syntax on the max function. Try [val,ind]=max(J, [ ], 3). This gives you the value (val) and the index (ind) of the max of the tensor J along the third dimension.

Stock index values in relation to inflation?

Q) I read somewhere recently that there has been a posited "stock crash" since 2000. The premise of the writer was that because some stock indexes - I think the Dow Jones was used - are below their peaks, they have actually crashed in reality, because of the effect of inflation. So, while the media gets excited that an index is near "record highs", it may be that it is in fact 10-15% down since 2000, as this is the amount of inflation in this period. This sounds sensible to me, but... is it correct? What I am not clear in is the composition and calculation of the indexes. Is there something inherent in them that adjusts for or in other way reduces the effect of inflation? So... if an index is at 10,000 right now and we have 10% inflation in the next year, would the index need to be at 11,000 to actually remain at par? Thanks!

A) You are on the right track. More formally, you are asking about the difference between nominal and real rates of return. The nominal return is the raw or unadjusted increase. The real return is adjusted for the effects of inflation. If an index increases from 10k to 11k, the nominal return is 10%. However, if inflation reduces your purchasing power such that you can buy the same quantity/quality of goods this eyar with 11K that you bought last year with 10k, then the real return on you money is approximately 0%, even though your nominal return is 10%. Mathematically this is operationalized in the the Fisher equation: (1+r)(1+i)=1+R where r is the real return, i is the inflation rate and R is the nominal return. Multiplying this out gives you r+i+r*i=R. Since r*i is usually tiny- especially in the US- it is ignored. Thus, we have r+i=R. Since you always know the nominal return and an estimate of inflation, you can solve for r with r=R-i.

Refractive Index?

Q) Would a temperature change affect the refractive index and if so, how? Select the best explanation from those shown. 1) At higher temperatures, the liquid would evaporate and the refractive index could not be measured accurately. 2) Yes, a decrease in temperature would decrease the refractive index. 3) Yes, a decrease in temperature would increase the refractive index. 4) No, the refractive index is temperature independent. anyone has any idea?thank you.

A) 3 As the liquid cools it becomes denser and light bends more, giving a higher refractive index.

Bic Mac Index - is there also a Coca-Cola index?

Q) There is a price comparison index called the "Bic Mac Index" - rumours has it that there is also a "Coca-Cola Index" - but could not find any proof on that. Have you heard of a Coca-Cola-Index? Do you have any links to information on it?

A) Here is a link to the "Coca-Cola Index" as described by The Economist: http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/displayStory.cfm?story_id=456039 Hope this helps!

Can we use stop loss on index (mutual) fund?Can we set stop loss at 10% of today's price instead of buy price?

Q) I'm considering on investing on either index fund or index ETF. But I want to be able to use stop loss just in case if something bad really happens ( example: Sept 911 ). My question is: can we use stop loss on index fund ( mutual fund )? For ETF, I know we can. Also can we set a stop loss to AUTOMATICALLY follow 10% of today's price ( instead of our original buying price )? CAN THIS BE DONE WITH INDEX FUND ( MUTUAL FUND)? OR ONLY CAN BE DONE WITH ETF? Example: I buy index fund at USD 130. 5 years later, the price of the index fund is USD 180. I set the stop loss at 10% of today's price ( 10% of USD 180 at USD 162 ). Then Sep 911 part 2 happens. The index fund suddenly drops to USD 50. However, I was saved because I already sell my index fund at USD 162. Thanks a lot for your help.

A) Typically mutual funds can only be redeemed at Net Asset Value (NAV). Funds don't trade in the same way as ETFs, which have a current/intraday price. For ETFs, you can place stops/limits etc, but when a mutual fund is redeemed at NAV, you receive the end of trading day value. If you're looking for liquidity and trading flexibility, go with an ETF. What the previous poster mentioned about stop losses is correct: a stop loss will not guarantee you a price. It simply triggers a market order when the ETF trades below your stop price. Depending on how quickly the market is moving, you could sell at a price substantially lower (or higher) than your stop price.

adding index.* to the end of a website?

Q) i was wondering what the purpose is of adding (no quotes) "/index.*" to the end of a website. Here is an example of a guy who added /index.jsp, /index.py, /index.html etc. after the 'com' to www.writely.com : - http://www.cocaman.ch/wp/2006/07/google-testing-gdrive-codename-platypus - http://snipurl.com/v4tu thank you both, but what would compel the person/blogger stated in my question to "append index.jsp, index.py and so on at the [writely] URL"? What would there purpose be?

A) The various extensions, htm/html/jsp/asp/ETC are dependent on the type of page being used. Standard pages would just be htm/html but if you are using a server-side language to generate the web page, then it would be jsp/asp/aspx/php etcetera. If there is no extension listed (site.com/about or site.com/about/) then most likely it's a folder. By default with no page identified, it will use the web server's default page (usually index.html/index.php, etc). There is also another option. The web server could be using url rewriting, automatically changing/rewriting the url without you even knowing about it; or, using a server-side language framework; their application framework could be url rewriting or redirecting on the back-end.