bucketcount

Bucketcount refers to the number of discrete intervals, or buckets, used to partition a continuous domain when constructing a histogram or performing bucketization. It is a configuration parameter that determines resolution and resource usage.

In data analysis and telemetry, bucketcount is used to tally how many observations fall into each interval. The resulting counts form a distribution that can be analyzed for patterns, variability, and statistics such as percentiles or outliers.

Common approaches include linear bucketing, where each bucket covers an equal width across the value range; and exponential or log-spaced bucketing, where bucket widths grow by a factor. Linear bucketing provides uniform resolution, while exponential bucketing can better capture a wide range of values with skewed distributions.

Determining an appropriate bucketcount involves trade-offs: more buckets increase resolution but require more memory and can produce sparse counts; too few buckets obscure distribution details. The choice often depends on the data range, expected distribution, and the purposes of the analysis or monitoring.

Implementation notes: boundaries are defined by a minimum and maximum value; an allocated bucket array of size bucketcount stores counts. Values outside the range are typically placed into underflow or overflow buckets or are clamped to the nearest boundary, depending on the system design.

In practice, many libraries expose bucketcount as a tunable parameter; histogram data structures may fix buckets at compile-time or allow dynamic reconfiguration.