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N50 and L50 jargon is confusing #15

@johnomics

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@johnomics

Prerequisites

  • [ X ] make sure you're are using the latest version by seqkit version
  • [ X ] read the usage

Describe your issue

Thanks for building seqkit, it is an extremely useful tool that I use every day.

seqkit stats -a produces N50 and L50 statistics. These labels are very confusing; 'N50' is the 'N50 length', the length of read such that 50% of the bases are in reads of this length or longer. 'L50' is the 'N50 number', the number of reads in this set. The term L50 has no connection with its meaning and in fact suggests it is to do with a length, which is not true. It would be much better to to use the terms 'N50 length' and 'N50 number' (or similar terms) to make the meaning of these statistics clear. I realise other tools use the same jargon but it is unclear and would be better replaced.

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