Best way to measure the spread of data per row? Max minus min

[Anonymous]

Hi, 

My goal is to create a method to determine when the y-axis spread (or range) of a data set increases. The x-axis is recorded in hours (so one row per hour). The exercise has been difficult because the data doesn't always increase, then decrease, then increase, then decrease etc - thus there could be multiple hours in a row which decrease. 

Thank you in advance!

[Anonymous]

Can you please share a sample table and fields if possible. make sure to remove any sensitive data or identifications first

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous 

You bet - I appreciate the quick response.

I've bounced a sample set of data. I've included three columns: well name, date, and oil production. I included data from two seperate wells that both have oil values on the same days (as I know we'll have to take this into account if we write code). 

Once we figure out how to quantify the spread, perhaps I should calculate a trailing average that can be compared against the most recent spread (which could be used as a flag to indicate when the spread of the oil data changes). 

Thanks again for your help!

Example Data

[Anonymous]

I'm bumping this topic back to the top to see if anyone knows how to solve this. 

Thanks!