Matching

Spots

The program will immediately match the spot values you enter to the closest substances in the database.




The matches are listed in order of closeness. Note that missing spot values (in this example E, F, G and HPLC) have no bearing on the match, even if the substances have values for those fields. (Though substances with more matching numbers will be displayed higher on the list.) Thus, for example, the 26 for G for Salazinic acid does not affect the match.

Clicking on the column headers (e.g. “Name”, “A”, etc out to “HPLC”) will sort each spot’s results by that column. Clicking on any header further to the right will reset the sort to closeness of match.

Matching Methods

There are currently two methods for matching substances to spots, RF Error and Correlation.

RF Error compares the spot values and fails the match if a single value is off by more than the RF Error value (Set on the Search Configuration page). The RF Error value is an integer, typically set to 1 or 2.

Correlation looks more at the overall match of the substances. If a substance matches most of the spots very closely, but is a little further off on a single value, it might still be listed as a potential match.

Color Matches

Color matches also depend on the matching method being used. With the RF Error method, some leeway is given for close colors, but it is still a binary comparison; colors either match or don't. With the Correlation method, colors that are close, such as Orange and Brown, may not match exactly, but consideration is given that there is some subjectivity in deciding the colors, and a closer match may be accepted if other values are close.