This screen is a little program to calculate a formula for a set of numbers. See my article, How to Find a Formula for a Set of Numbers for an explanation of how it works and what the output means.
You can enter up to 15 numbers below. You may enter integers or fractions. Write fractions with a slash to separate numerator and denominator, for example, "3/4" means three quarters. You can also write a whole number portion followed by a fraction, like "5 1/2" means five and one half. You must put a space between the whole number and the fraction. You can enter decimals but they will be automatically converted to conventional fractions. For example, ".1" becomes "1/10" and "1.25" becomes "5/4".
I think this program works well with fractions, but if you prefer you can try my older version that uses floating point numbers,
Do not skip values.
This program assumes all numbers are exact. If you are using measurements where there is some error, the results are unlikely to be meaningful.
This program will give a polynomial formula for any set of numbers. Whether this is useful or meaningful in your situation is up to you to interpret.
The equation given should work (barring bugs in the program). But it's up to you to determine if the output is meaningful. The output should be accurate given the input, but "an accurate calculation" and "a useful result" are two different things.
Created July 14, 2008.
Copyright © 2008 by Jay Johansen.