unseen post #3....

i have yet to test it, but it looks like i've found my answer.

and, like all frustrating referential answers for programming, it is absurdly simple.. i confused my understanding by using an unsigned range. when casual descriptions said "absolute value" i assumed a switched output (the 0 OR 65535 mentioned above...) because negative outcomes never factored in...

.....what it appears to be, from the reference i have found (pp. 553 Multifractals, Probability and Statistical Mechanics, Applications google preview) is bloody simple...

..referencing audio.. if you have a curvy (interpolated) waveform and rectify it (flip sign of negative samples.. or *absolute* value ...you get a bunch of bumps (eg. sinewave becomes mcdonalds "M" logo) - so the "ridges" are merely (1-McDonalds)... aargh.. so infuriatingly simple.. if that page had still been up it would have saved me about five hours of browsing for the answer....

..i expect i'll be back. i'm not going to duplicate the functionality of wilbur, but i do wish to explore many of these functions TY all