Curve Fitting

Measured data points used for the calibration.

Depending on the kind of relationship (if we know it at all) we may fit a suitable mathematical function to the measured points. In many cases this function simply will be a straight line (which is fit to the data by means of regression). However, in practical situations the relationship may be of non-linear nature, resulting in a curved line through the measured values. Here we have to distinguish two fundamentally different approaches: on one hand we may fit the curve by means of linear regression, on the other hand we may wish to find a curve which includes all data points, even if they are noisy and contain some error.

In principle, we find that the curve will fit the better the higher the number of degrees of freedom is. However, a better fit does not necessarily mean a better model which delivers estimates which are more reliable. In most cases the overfitting results in less reliable estimates (especially in regions where extrapolation occurs).

	Various calibration functions: the straight line and the parabola a obtained by regression, which a cubic spline will alyways include the measure values. Which one of these functions actually delivers the most reliable calibration depends on the "real" relationship.

Hint:

As a basic principle, the kind of function which is to be fit to the data should always be known in advance, and there should be good reasons why a particular function is selected. The approach of trying out many functions and select the "best" one is questionable and may lead to unusable results (for example, if the data contain an outlier).