[ubuntu-uk] Curve-fitting program or package (a gnuplot example)

[Andrew Price]

On 24/02/07 17:54, Robin Menneer wrote:
> I have a problem with fitting a curve to some data and would like help
> please.  The data are:
> x=375, 375, 375, 355, 315, 268,195, 110, 0
> y=2500, 2150, 1920, 1600, 1250, 936, 624, 312, 0
> I need a program that will draw a line of best fit (for me to print)
> according to different parameters,, especially log and power and find the
> best for me, and give me the equation for it.

gnuplot seems like a good tool for this job. It's a tool with a wide
range of options and commands so it can seem a bit daunting to use it
for the first time (I should know, I used it for the first time today :))

Anyway, here's an example of how to do it (I'm assuming you've already
installed the gnuplot package):

Put your X and Y data in a text file in columns like:

375    2500
375    2150
375    1920
355    1600
315    1250
268    936
195    624
110    312
0      0

Then open a terminal and go to the directory with the data file in it
and run gnuplot:

$ cd /path/tomy/datafile/dir/
$ gnuplot

Once you're in the gnuplot "shell", tell it to plot columns 1 and 2 as x
and y respectively, giving the curve a title:

gnuplot> plot "mydatafile.dat" using 1:2 title 'Data' smooth csplines

Removing "smooth csplines" would make gnuplot plot each individual point
without a curve, replacing "csplines" with "unique" joins the dots. A
whole range more options can be found in the documentation [1].

If you want to plot the data to an image file, precede the plot command
with something like these two commands:

gnuplot> set terminal png
gnuplot> set output 'mygraph.png'

For a list of other output file types, just type 'set terminal' without
an option.

(Don't let the command line nature of this daunt you, it's pretty simple
and tutorials like [2] and demos like [3] show you how powerful it can be)

[1] http://www.gnuplot.info/docs/gnuplot.html
[2] http://www.duke.edu/~hpgavin/gnuplot.html
[3] http://www.gnuplot.info/demo/simple.html

Hope this helps.

-- 
Andy Price
IRC: welshbyte
http://andrewprice.me.uk