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I have a table of numbers with a few thousand entries, and I'm trying to find the first index that is less than a particular value. An example of the table I'm working on is as follows:

dr = {6.34152*10^8, 6.32076*10^8, 6.29998*10^8, 6.27921*10^8, 6.25843*10^8, 6.23765*10^8, ...}

What I'm trying to do is find the first entry that is less than 5.77*10^8. I've tried the following:

SOIdr = Position[dr, First[dr] < 5.77*10^8]

But have had no luck thus far. Any help would be appreciated, thanks guys.

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This question is closely related to a number of others, if not an outright duplicate, but I can't find that duplicate now. Your syntax for using Position is not correct. You need something like this:

dr = {4, 7, 4, 8, 8, 5, 3, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5};
val = 4;

Position[dr, x_ /; x < val, 1, 1]

{{7}}

For numeric operations there are usually faster methods however. I am looking for a Q&A that gives some examples.

Related: Count consecutive occurrences in a list above a certain value

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you Mr. Wizard, worked like a charm. $\endgroup$ – InquisitiveInquirer Mar 17 '14 at 12:00
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dr = {4, 7, 4, 8, 8, 5, 3, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5};
val = 4;
Flatten@Position[Thread[Less[dr, val]], True]
{7}
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  • $\begingroup$ Care to comment on how this approach differs (speed, efficiency, breadth, etc) from the currently accepted answer? $\endgroup$ – bobthechemist Apr 2 '14 at 13:53
  • $\begingroup$ Under a very simple benchmark (1, 10, 100.. up to 1*10^6 repetitions), this answer has a smaller O(n) coefficient - 6.7s vs 9.1s for the worst case. But it finds all the smaller elements, not only the first. $\endgroup$ – Aisamu Apr 2 '14 at 14:54

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