Countable Plate Selection

Select colony-count plates within caller-specified countability limits, retaining low and excessive counts separately.

Description

Colony-count plate selection separates usable-range counts from sparse and excessive counts.

Colony-count plate selection separates usable-range counts from sparse and excessive counts. The limits depend on the supplied counting method rather than a universal countability band.^[1]

Select colony-count plates within caller-specified countability limits, retaining low and excessive counts separately.

When to use Countable Plate Selection

Use this tool to select colony-count plates within caller-specified countability limits, retaining low and excessive counts separately.

Prepare the sample, count, growth or assay measurements requested by this tool. Confirm units, sampling periods and reporting bases; supply independently established comparison criteria where requested.

How to use Countable Plate Selection and understand its results

Prepare the sample, count, growth or assay measurements requested by this tool. Confirm units, sampling periods and reporting bases; supply independently established comparison criteria where requested.
Enter plateIds, colonyCounts, minimumCount, maximumCount using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read countablePlateIds, belowRangePlateIds, aboveRangePlateIds. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
plateIds	Plate ids	list of string	Required
colonyCounts	Colony counts	list of number	Required
minimumCount	Minimum count	integer; minimum: 0	Required
maximumCount	Maximum count	integer; minimum: 0	Required

Enter distinct plate IDs with aligned nonnegative integer counts and ordered nonnegative integer count limits. The tool returns countable, below-range and above-range IDs, preserving input order within each group. Both endpoints are countable; the same limits apply to every supplied plate.

Paired lists must be nonempty and have equal lengths.

countable if minimum≤count≤maximum

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
countablePlateIds	Countable plate ids	list of string
belowRangePlateIds	Below range plate ids	list of string
aboveRangePlateIds	Above range plate ids	list of string

json

{
  "input": {
    "plateIds": [
      "A",
      "B",
      "C"
    ],
    "colonyCounts": [
      20,
      100,
      350
    ],
    "minimumCount": 30,
    "maximumCount": 300
  },
  "output": {
    "countablePlateIds": [
      "B"
    ],
    "belowRangePlateIds": [
      "A"
    ],
    "aboveRangePlateIds": [
      "C"
    ]
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

This selects observations without calculating concentration or selecting a dilution scheme. Confluence, colony identity, method-specific uncertainty and assay validity are not assessed.

Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Lists are limited to 100,000 entries; the rules above may require smaller limits. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Plating Adjusted Transformation Efficiency: Estimate transformants per microgram from an aliquot plate, accounting for recovery volume and plate dilution. For a complementary task, use Tube Design MPN Estimate: Fit a Poisson tube-positivity MPN by maximum likelihood using actual inoculum volumes, replacing a fixed three-tube lookup table.

References

Countable Plate Selection — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Plating Adjusted Transformation Efficiency
Estimate transformants per microgram from an aliquot plate, accounting for recovery volume and plate dilution.
Tube Design MPN Estimate
Fit a Poisson tube-positivity MPN by maximum likelihood using actual inoculum volumes, replacing a fixed three-tube lookup table.