Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The exponential of a variable is denoted or , with the two notations used interchangeably. It is called exponential because its argument can be seen as an exponent to which a constant number e ≈ 2.718, the base, is raised. There are several other definitions of the exponential function, which are all equivalent ...
The result of fitting a set of data points with a quadratic function Conic fitting a set of points using least-squares approximation. In regression analysis, least squares is a parameter estimation method based on minimizing the sum of the squares of the residuals (a residual being the difference between an observed value and the fitted value provided by a model) made in the results of each ...
Unlike a linear scale where each unit of distance corresponds to the same increment, on a logarithmic scale each unit of length is a multiple of some base value raised to a power, and corresponds to the multiplication of the previous value in the scale by the base value. In common use, logarithmic scales are in base 10 (unless otherwise specified).
In statistics, ordinary least squares (OLS) is a type of linear least squares method for choosing the unknown parameters in a linear regression model (with fixed level-one [clarification needed] effects of a linear function of a set of explanatory variables) by the principle of least squares: minimizing the sum of the squares of the differences between the observed dependent variable (values ...
In the long run, exponential growth of any kind will overtake linear growth of any kind (that is the basis of the Malthusian catastrophe) as well as any polynomial growth, that is, for all α: = There is a whole hierarchy of conceivable growth rates that are slower than exponential and faster than linear (in the long run).
With exponential functions, increasing the input by one unit causes the output to increase by a fixed multiple, which is known as the base of the exponential function. If both arguments and values of a function are in the logarithmic scale (i.e., when log ( y ) is a linear function of log ( x ) ), then the straight line represents a power law :
This definition has the advantage that it does not rely on the exponential function or any trigonometric functions; the definition is in terms of an integral of a simple reciprocal. As an integral, ln(t) equals the area between the x-axis and the graph of the function 1/x, ranging from x = 1 to x = t.
It is used to solve systems of linear differential equations. In the theory of Lie groups, the matrix exponential gives the exponential map between a matrix Lie algebra and the corresponding Lie group. Let X be an n×n real or complex matrix. The exponential of X, denoted by e X or exp(X), is the n×n matrix given by the power series = =!