Curve Fitting: How well does the curve describe the data? (Inquiry Based) A gold star indicates high-quality, inquiry-based activities that follow the PhET design guidelines.



Title Curve Fitting: How well does the curve describe the data? (Inquiry Based)
Description This activity could be used in any course where students are asked to understand how well a curve describes a set of data. These are a few of the Learning Goals: Students will be able to: Explain how the range, uncertainty and number of data points affect correlation coefficient and Chi squared; Describe how correlation coefficient and chi squared can be used to indicate how well a curve describes the data relationship; Apply understanding of Curve Fitting to designing experiments
Subject Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics
Level High School, Undergrad - Intro
Type Lab
Duration 60 minutes
Answers Included Yes
Language English
Keywords chi squared, correlation coefficient, data, phet activity, regression
Simulation(s) Curve Fitting (HTML5)

Author(s) Trish Loeblein, Mike Dubson
Contact Email patricia.loeblein@colorado.edu
School / Organization PhET
Date submitted 7/18/08
Date updated 11/11/19