Least Squares Regression

Overview

The topic of this lesson is least squares regression (LSR). We will use a rather unusual approach to the method, which does not require any knowledge of statistics and uses only simple mathematics.

The object of LSR is to establish a relation between two sets of variables (typically x and y). This relation can for instance be used in the future to predict y when x is known, or it can be used to determine constants in a physical/chemical relation.

In this example we will use a dataset with only one x- and y-variable. The relation between x and y will typically be a linear one, the simplest example is:

y=a+bx
, where a and b are constants.