peak finding

This can be a handy way to peaks and valleys in your data but depending on the noise level  it may identify a sequence of points rather than a single value. You may be able to address this by smoothing the data before interpolation, but  for more advanced peak finding routines (including determination of peak widths and relative degree of prominence), see the links to the peak finding routines on the scipy.signal reference manual page. Examples can be found at the bottom of the reference pages for each function.

Working with units and uncertainties

When using Python in place of a calculator, we have the ability to directly include information about dimensions, units and uncertainties in the calculations. When used, these abilities  offer the advantage of allowing us to check algebraic calculations, automatically propagate uncertainties in calculated quantities, and avoid unit conversion errors, but the necessary Python modules are not included in the standard Anaconda Navigator Python installation and must be added by hand if needed.
Note for Smith students:  these additional modules  are already installed on the classroom computers for PHY 350 and the Smith Physics Jupyter webserver at  https://jove.smith.edu. (The https is necessary).