Let’s say we’re playing The Sims. We must pick five traits from a list of 10 unique traits (traits A – J), and these 5 traits make up the sim’s personality. How can we calculate a number that represents the level of diversity among multiple sims? Ideally, this number would range from 0 – 1, with 0 representing no diversity, and 1 representing high diversity.
To be clear, let’s imagine the following scenarios and what the resulting diversity index would be.
Scenario One:
- Sim 1 has traits A, B, C, D, E
- Sim 2 has traits A, B, C, D, E
Diversity Index = 0
Scenario Two:
- Sim 1 has traits A, B, C, D, E
- Sim 2 has traits F, G, H, I, J
Diversity Index = 1
Scenario Three:
- Sim 1 has traits A, B, C, D, E
- Sim 2 has traits A, B, C, D, E
- Sim 3 has traits F, G, H, I, J
- Sim 4 has traits F, G, H, I, J
Diversity Index = .5 (?)
How could we go about calculating a diversity index with the above information?