The Coleman-Liau Index
The Coleman-Liau Index is a measure of the reading difficulty of a portion of text. It is an estimate of the U.S. grade level that a student would need to have achieved in order to read and understand the text.
Although some readability tests are based on the number of syllables in the text, the Coleman-Liau Index is based on the number of characters in the words.
The formula for calculating the Index is A - B - 15.8
Where A = (the number of characters ÷ the number of words) × 5.89
and B = (the number of sentences in a fragment of 100 words) × 0.3
The text (excluding title) of the web page entitled Easy-To-Understand Writing that appears on this website contains 1144 characters and 237 words. Further, the first 100 words represent 5 ½ sentences.
Consequently, A = (1144 ÷ 237 = 4.83) × 5.89 = 28.45
And B = 5½ × 0.3 = 1.65
Therefore, the Coleman-Liau Index = 28.45 - 1.65 - 15.8 = 11.00
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© G.A. Robinson 2007-2012
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