« What determines the music we like? | Main | Principles for good web-based experiments »

March 27, 2006

Ever wonder how regression works?

VISUAL LEAST SQUARES

Click around and use the arrow keys. The above is a program, not an image. Please, no wagering.

Back when the DSN editor was a student at Chicago, he learned Statistics and History of Statistics from Steve Stigler, who proposed a visual demonstration of least squares regression. Together they came out with a now-obsolete Mac version. Today, DSN is proud to announce a version that will run on any browser that does Flash.

The demonstration should be self-explanatory to anyone who understands simple regression, and if not, might suffice as a tutor. And if not, there is always the linear regression article in Wikipedia.

FAQ

Can I use this to teach my class?

Yes, and please let us know how it goes! A benefit of the web-based version is that it can be reached from any place with a Web connection. This program is made available through a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs) which means that you are welcome to use it for non-commercial purposes.

Posted by dggoldst at March 27, 2006 10:32 AM