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Sunday, August 4, 2024

Excel Trendlines

The linear trendlines are computed using the method of least squares.   By experiment I can see that very large values at the ends of the data can substantially, perhaps even, unnaturally affect the slope.  Is there any rigorous mathematical discussion of this problem?

1 comment:

  1. An examination of the alternatives would be a statistics course... Least squares is the easiest/entry level analysis.

    It you really need to do analysis, then you need something more substantial. I can't help you because the only programs I've used have been programing languages (MATLAB) and enterprise level systems like SAS. There is probably a freeware/open-source solution, but I have no idea what to recommend...

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