% The Hurst exponent
%-------------------------------------------------------------------------- % The first 20 lines of code are a small test driver.
% You can delete or comment out this part when you are done validating the % function to your satisfaction. %
% Bill Davidson, quellen@yahoo.com % 13 Nov 2005
function []=hurst_exponent() disp('testing Hurst calculation');
n=100;
data=rand(1,n); plot(data);
hurst=estimate_hurst_exponent(data);
[s,err]=sprintf('Hurst exponent = %.2f',hurst);disp(s);
%--------------------------------------------------------------------------
% This function does dispersional analysis on a data series, then does a % Matlab polyfit to a log-log plot to estimate the Hurst exponent of the % series. %
% This algorithm is far faster than a full-blown implementation of Hurst's % algorithm. I got the idea from a 2000 PhD dissertation by Hendrik J % Blok, and I make no guarantees whatsoever about the rigor of this approach % or the accuracy of results. Use it at your own risk. %
% Bill Davidson % 21 Oct 2003
function [hurst] = estimate_hurst_exponent(data0) % data set
data=data0; % make a local copy
[M,npoints]=size(data0);
yvals=zeros(1,npoints); xvals=zeros(1,npoints); data2=zeros(1,npoints);
index=0;
binsize=1;
while npoints>4
y=std(data); index=index+1;
xvals(index)=binsize; yvals(index)=binsize*y;
npoints=fix(npoints/2); binsize=binsize*2;
for ipoints=1:npoints % average adjacent points in pairs
data2(ipoints)=(data(2*ipoints)+data((2*ipoints)-1))*0.5; end
data=data2(1:npoints);
end % while
xvals=xvals(1:index); yvals=yvals(1:index);
logx=log(xvals); logy=log(yvals);
p2=polyfit(logx,logy,1);
hurst=p2(1); % Hurst exponent is the slope of the linear fit of log-log plot
return;