Graphical AnalysisTM

Automatic Curve Fit


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The analysis of a graph usually includes looking for the "best smooth curve" that fits a particular data set. Most modern graphing software take practically all of the drudgery out of this process. To have the Graphical AnalysisTM software do an automatic curve fit on your data:

  1. Automatic Curve Fit dialogSelect "Automatic Curve Fit" from the Analyze Menu (or press <Apple><F>).
  2. Select an appropriate function from the dialog.
  3. Select the data set that you want to work on.
  4. Click "OK".

The results of the analysis will be displayed at the bottom of the graph.

Curve fit results.

The "Mean Square Error" is the average (mean) of the square of the distance from each point to the curve. The "errors" are squared to avoid the case where positive and negative errors cancel each other out. Small is good.

Alternatively, for linear data you can get a best fit regression line and regression statistics.

 

last update July 3, 2000 by JL Stanbrough