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 25 numbers below. You may enter integers or decimals. 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.
You may get terms with very long decimal expansions, like "1.4999999999999 x2 - 2.00000000000002 x". This is usually the result of rounding errors. In this case, for example, the real formula is most likely "1.5 x2 - 2 x". There probably should be a way to specify rounding rules. Maybe I'll add such a thing in a future version.
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 May 4, 2008.
Copyright © 2008 by Jay Johansen.