OVER 2 YOU, 162 (06/01/04)

GOLF COMPETITION

I am involved in a golf society that runs a knockout competition involving upwards of 180 participants. I am looking for a database application that can handle the random draw for the competition as well as participants’ historical performances and statistics, so I can build league tables based on different criteria, e.g. number of entries, matches played, number of wins, biggest wins, etc.

Andrew Stracey

Andrew should try Society Scoresaver. The program is designed to help golf clubs organise and run events and contains all the statistical analysis from its sister product Scoresaver. He can try the software free of charge and without restriction for 30 days. It can be downloaded from: www.scoresaver.co.uk.

Andy Richmond, via email

I have had some indirect experience of a software suite called Handicapmaster, which unlike a lot of programs is written for UK golf clubs and societies. It has been approved by a number of leading organisations and is idea for competition work. You can get more details from: http://www.handicapmaster.org/, where you will also find a useful FAQ.

Peter Seeley, via email

BLOOD PRESSURE

Having slightly high blood pressure I regularly check my own blood pressure using an Omron monitor. To minimise "White Coat Syndrome" I take five readings, getting a Systolic and Diastolic reading each time. I then enter these readings on an Excel spreadsheet. I disregard the highest and lowest readings, average the other three and enter this value in the last two columns of the spreadsheet. This is all done manually and I am hoping that someone could provide me with a formula so that the final figures are generated automatically.

Mostyn Wheeler, via email

There are four functions required: MAX() returns the highest value in a range, MIN() the lowest, SUM() the total of all, and COUNT() the total number of cells. If the five values are in cells A1 to A5 the target cell should contain the formula:

"=(SUM(A1:E1)-MAX(A1:E1)-MIN(A1:E1))/

(COUNT(A1:E1)-2)"

This will add all the values, subtract the highest and lowest from that total, and then divide by the number of values less the two extremes. The range in the brackets can be extended to cover any range with more than 3 cells, and will even work on two-dimensional ranges.
Chris Lucas, via email

Assume your five systolic values are in the five cells A1: E1. The average of the three systolic values that exclude the largest and the smallest is given by:

=AVERAGE(SMALL(A1:E1,2),SMALL

(A1:E1,3),SMALL(A1:E1,4))

As it happens, you could just as easily have used LARGE instead of SMALL. For the avoidance of doubt, it doesn't matter whether your values in A1:E1 are ranked in order of size or not, the formula will still work.
Sam Roner, via email

Input your source data into column C (Systolic) and column D (Diastolic), rows 4 to 8. Three columns to the right of C4 (i.e. column F, row 4), input this formula:

=SI(OR(C4=MAX($C$4:$C$8);C4=MIN

($C$4:$C$8);C4="");"";C4)

Do this for each source data. Copy F4 into F5-to-F8 and copy F4-to-F8 into G4-to-G8 for the Diastolic readings.

This puts the formula's square to a null value/blank (="") if the source data square is blank or
equal to the highest value in the source data' squares (=MAX()) or equal to the lowest value in the source data' squares (=MIN())

Otherwise it puts the square's value equal to the source data square three columns to the left (C4 in the example above). You may then work from these new values.
L.Newman, France

AIR CORRIDORS

A 90-year old ex RAF pilot who I meet on my morning walks often asks me where the all aircraft are going when we see the con-trails on cold days. Assuming that details of air corridors are not secret, is it possible to download this type of information from the Internet?

James Hartley, via email

You can view highly detailed aeronautical charts for the United States at the Map.com website (http://www.maps.com/cgi-bin/maps/aeromaps.pl) and at the very least it will give your pilot friend an idea of the sort of details the current charts contain. The same kind of data is also shown on UK charts prepared by the Civil Aviation Authority but I doubt very much if they are available to view online, they can however be purchased from specialist aviation suppliers like Transair. You’ll find more details on its web site at: http://www.transair.co.uk

Henry Davies, via email

He could try http://www.airnavsystems.com, which for $64 a year would tell him in real-time where any aircraft was going at any time anywhere in the world. It includes the aircrafts ident number, height and where it took off and where it is destined to land.

Tony Peters, via email

FREE HIT COUNTER

Can anyone recommend a free web page 'hit' counter that does not involve banners, pop-up boxes or other advertising matter. If it is resettable then so much the better.
Dudley Wheeler, via email

I use a web counter from Webstat.com. Apart from a small unobtrusive button on your home page, no other banner or pop-ups have to be endured. Basic visitor stats are obtained from logging onto your user account. Much more detailed stats are available at cost.

David Sleath, via email

For the ‘Rolls-Royce’ of hit counters go to: http://www.xav.com/scripts/axs/ and investigate the free AXS script available there. Mr Wheeler will need an ISP, which is able to carry out Server-side instructions, but the thoughtful folks at XAV have arranged matters so that the script will even install itself on his web site. All he needs to do then is insert one line of code into his web pages and he'll have more information than you can shake a stick at, most of which he can customise to suit his own requirements.
Mike Walker, Cambridge

I have used, on several websites and over several years, a service by www.sitemeter.com with some success. They have a fairly good range of counter styles and hit statistics in their basic, free service that involve no logos or banners.  I have never detected any pop-up activity associated with this service although I can't find any declaration on their site that there is none. It is easy to register and copy the code into your site and I have never felt the need to pay the premium for enhanced services

Peter K Cattermole, Wallington, Surrey

CAN YOU HELP?

I am now retired, in my early seventies, and this year, to further my knowledge of computers, I intend to build a PC from scratch, which I understand is reasonably easy to do these days. I would like to construct a multi-purpose machine with the capability to record television programmes, play music and possibly edit my video movies and copy them onto DVD, as well as all the other usual functions (word processing, Internet, email etc.). Assuming that such a project is feasible, has anyone any advice on how to proceed, which components to use, or perhaps, point me in the direction of some plans, books or any websites that might help?

John Taylor, via email

My daughter is doing a degree on Logistics and Transport at Molde University, Norway. She is doing her thesis on Congestion and Road Charging, but is having difficulty obtaining useful data. Does anyone know of any web sites or other sources with this kind of information?

John Gibson, via email