This function calculates the slopes (rate of change) between consecutive data points
in a melatonin profile based on melatonin concentrations and their corresponding
time points.
Usage
calculate_slopes(profile, decimal_time)
Arguments
- profile
Numeric vector representing melatonin concentrations at each time point.
- decimal_time
Numeric vector representing the time points in decimal format (e.g., fractional hours or days).
Value
A numeric vector of slopes calculated as the change in melatonin concentration
divided by the change in time between consecutive points.
Details
The function sorts the input data by time to ensure proper calculation of slopes.
The slopes are computed as:
$$slope = (profile[i+1] - profile[i]) / (decimal_time[i+1] - decimal_time[i])$$.
Examples
profile <- c(1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.7, 2.0)
decimal_time <- c(0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1) # Time in fractional hours
slopes <- calculate_slopes(profile, decimal_time)
print(slopes)
#> [1] 0.8 0.4 0.8 1.2
