Fitts Law and Hick-Hyman Law’s Assignment

Submitted by: Vidushi Singh Pundir (150205043)

Q1. Take 5 tasks with different difficulty levels and width, then calculate the
throughput (Assume a=0, b=0.2)?

Throughput (TP) = Index of Difficulty(ID)/ Movement Time(MT)

MT = a+b*ID ; where a and b are constants
ID = log2(D/W + 1) bits; D= Displacement & W= Width

For the 5 tasks, TP is calculated like this:

1. D = 130mm; W= 50mm
ID = log2(130/50+1) = 1.85 bits
MT = 0 + .2*1.85 = 0.37 sec
TP = 1.85/[.2*1.85]= 5 bits/s

2. D = 200mm; W= 100mm
ID = log2(200/100+1) = log2(3) bits
MT = 0 + .2*log2(3)= log2(3)/5 sec
TP = (5*log2(3))/ log2(3) = 5 bits/s

3. D = 250mm; W= 250mm
ID = log2(250/250+1) = 1 bits
MT = 0 + .2*1= 0.2 sec
TP = 1/0.2= 5 bits/s

4. D = 350mm; W= 150mm
ID = log2(350/150+1) = 1.74 bits
MT = 0 + .2*1.74
TP = 5 bits/s

5. D = 170mm; W= 50mm
ID = log2(4.4) = 2.14 bits
MT = 0 + .2*2.14
TP = 5 bits/s

Here since a is equal to 0; TP(throughput) becomes independent of ID ;

TP = 1/b if a = 0
Q2. A telephone call operator has 10 buttons. When the light behind one of the buttons
becomes on, the operator must push the button and answer the call. What will be the operator’s
reaction time (Assume a=0, b=0.2)?

T = a + b*H
H = ∑ P​i​ log2(1/P​i​) where P​i​ represents probability of the ith choice
According to the question given there are 10 choices so, P​i​ =1/10
H = .1log2(10) = .33
T = a + b*H = 0+ 0.2*0.33 = .066 sec