There's a referencing problem in your formula, and dB being unspecified is relative!. I'm somewhat curious as to what your references are. Being somewhat entrenched in RF and opticks I tend to use dBm and regard 0dBm as a nice generally useful level, where there would, for Needed values exist a state of "This would improve things I do daily". I wanted my DM42 like 20dBm, which is a lot. I needed it about -5dBm which is strong, but not necessary at all.
10Log * ( 20/-5 ) = -4dB
N values being negative mess your formula up.
Proposed W values, related to 0dBm:
30 | I need a complete set, desperately |
20 | Wantwantwant! |
10 | This is an interesting instrument... |
0 | Would look good on the bench |
-10 | If it had Nixies, I'd buy it |
-20 | I could do with a parts unit |
-30 | I have like 5 already, in better condition |
This needs standards and committee work. Your move.
We need to be more specific with the N and W definitions and since there are no device which can directly measure them, we need to use an indirect method as already somehow proposed.
The Cambridge dictionary can help us.NIf you say that someone or something needs something else, you mean that they should have it, or would get an advantage from having it
Here is crucial the concept of "advantage". In other words:
![](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1458826;image)
where [n] is the number of the advantages and [Ad] is a single advantage as a consequence of the item purchase.
A disadvantage/disservice is of course [Ad]<0.
[Ad] in magnitude is generally related with economic or life improvement variables.
Wto wish for a particular thing or plan of action
Unfortunately this variable is related to the human desire so it is difficult to quantify.
While thinking about the item in discussion our soul can react with positive and/or negative thoughts.
Let's define:
![](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1458799;image)
where [n] is the number of the thoughts, and [Th] quantifies how big the particular thought is.
Negative thoughts are of course [Th]<0.
[Th] increase in magnitude in direct proportion with the amount of time spent in that particular thought.
After some reflections, I am reluctant to put a table with real life situation associated with numbers.
Each one of us is unique and irrepetible, and it would be a never ending discussion.
I am not sold yet, I stand to be corrected.
WNRrev 0.2
Now that we have defined a better base for our discussion, we can dig more in the WNR definition.
Re(WNR) > 0 means you want more than you need something
Re(WNR) < 0 means you need more than you want something
where Re() is the real part of the complex number WNR.
It could be tempting to define the WNR with a simple linear equation like this one
![](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1458742;image)
but it is misleading and does not describe well reality, let me explain.
W and N can be negative or positive. It makes perfect sense, simply because you can have the opposite of both:
1) W> 0 want
2) W< 0 don't want
3) N > 0 need
4) N < 0 don't need.
This equation:
![](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1457977;image)
is a much better description of reality because if
![](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1458736;image)
the situation is real, so WNR is a real number
If WNR has an imaginary part so it not a real number, is not a common real situation.
It is indeed somehow not common to want something you don't need, or to need something you don't want.
We can even call it a "complicated situation" as EXACTELY the resulting WNR, which is a complex number (hint: log x when x<0 is a complex number).
That's why we need to take only the real part in complicated situation and disregard the imaginary component, if we want to know is N if bigger and W or the opposite.
The "nature" of the resulting WNR reflects the nature of the situation: real/real or complicated/complex.
On top of that, the log (dB unit) serves as "compressor" or "amplifier" (WNR<0) if the W and N quantities are order of magnitude apart, as often the case.
There is still the problem of units W in thoughts and N in advantages so the ratio of the two is not a pure number and a no go for the log.
If then we could suppose that N are again the thoughts regarding the advantages, then the universe is saved.
The elegance of the WNR definition is remarkable in my eyes.