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.


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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
School / Organization PhET
Date submitted 08/07/18
Date updated 19/11/11