Re: some computed reading levels of book portions

From: AaronLynch@aol.com
Date: Sat 19 Oct 2002 - 13:29:28 GMT

  • Next message: Van oost Kenneth: "Re: electric meme bombs"

    Below is a re-post of a September 15 message. I re-post it only because the recent loss of archive data leaves only the typo-uncorrected version of a formula in the archive. I do not want the typo to cause propagating errors!

    --Aaron Lynch

    Subj: Re: some computed reading levels of book portions Date: 9/16/2002 4:23:36 AM Central Daylight Time From: AaronLynch@aol.com Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Reply-to: memetics@mmu.ac.uk To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk

    In a message dated 7/16/2002 9:59:05 PM Central Daylight Time, AaronLynch@aol.com writes:

    > In a message dated 7/15/2002 7:59:53 AM Central
    > Daylight Time, dgatherer2002@yahoo.co.uk writes:
    >
    > > --- AaronLynch@aol.com wrote: > The following is a
    > > (corrected) table of computed
    > > > reading
    > > > levels of some book portions:
    > > >
    > > > Robert Aunger, _The Electric Meme_, chapter 1:
    > > > Flesch-Kincaid grade level = 12.0
    > >
    > > There appears to be a bug in the Microsoft
    > > implementation of Flesch-Kincaid. I tried a variety
    > > of texts from Project Gutenberg, looking for the
    > > heaviest stuff I could find, and all gave
    > > Flesch-Kincaid levels of 12.0.
    > >
    > > The formula according to Microsoft Help is:
    > >
    > > FK = 0.39*ASL + 11.8*ASW - 15.59
    > >
    > > ASL is average sentence length and ASW is average
    > > syllables per word.
    > >
    > > The nonsense sentence
    > > "antidisestablishmentarianism
    > > floccipaucinihilipilification" (repeated 20 times)
    > >
    > > (the 2 longest words in English, as it happens)
    > >
    > > has ASL of 40 and ASW of 6 - giving a Flesch-Kincaid
    > > of 70.1.
    > >
    > > But Microsoft's automated feature rates it as a 12.0.
    > >
    > > It seems some kind of ceiling function is invoked in
    > > the Microsoft implementation - so for works at >12.0,
    > > you have to do it manually, or write a Perl script.
    >
    > Microsoft Help also gives the formula for Flesch
    > Reading Ease:
    >
    > 206.835 - 1.015*ASL - 84.6*ASW
    >
    > In addition, the grammar package reports the value
    > of ASL (Words Per Sentence).
    >
    > Given the reported values of ASL and Flesch Reading
    > Ease, (FRE) one can calculate the Flesch-Kincaid
    > Grade Level using a simple linear formula instead of
    > either old software or a Perl script (etc.). The linear
    > relationship is
    >
    > FC = 13.26 + 0.248*ASL + 0.139*FRE

    I looked up my own formula to apply it to another of my papers, to see how close it might be to being presented to a wider audience. But I found that the formula as posted on the memetics list has a typo: the last term should be - 0.139*FRE instead of + 0.139*FRE. The correct formula is:

    FC = 13.26 + 0.248*ASL - 0.139*FRE

    Howver, the calculations done on book portions used a handwritten copy of the formula that did not have the typo. They were done using the correct formula.

    --Aaron Lynch

    >
    > Applying this formula to the two book portions that
    > had earlier given Flesch-Kincaid Grade Levels at
    > the ceiling of 12.0, we have the following table,
    > again in order of increasing reading ease:
    >
    > Aaron Lynch, _Thought Contagion_, chapter 1:
    > Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level = 12.9.
    >
    > Robert Aunger, _The Electric Meme_, chapter 1:
    > Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level = 12.6.
    >
    > Susan Blackmore, _The Meme Machine_, chapter 6:
    > Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level = 10.6.
    >
    > Richard Brodie, _Virus of the Mind_, chapter 1:
    > Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level = 9.6.
    >
    > Susan Blackmore, _The Meme Machine_, chapter 1:
    > Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level = 9.4
    >
    > Seth Godin, _Ideavirus_, chapter 1:
    > Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level = 8.7.
    >
    > Malcolm Gladwell, _The Tipping Point_, online excerpts:
    > Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level = 8.1.
    >
    > By this simple but impartial measure, the first two
    > books are written at a college undergraduate level. I
    > would personally also count Susan Blackmore's
    > _The Meme Machine_ as a college-level book. The
    > rest can reasonably be considered as written for
    > a mainstream popular market.
    >
    > --Aaron Lynch

    =============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit

    =============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit

    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat 19 Oct 2002 - 13:34:18 GMT