Quiz

Consider the points (x₁,y₁), (x₂,y₂), ... , (x_n,y_n) in the xy-plane.  Suppose you wanted to find the best fitting exponential curve:

    y  =  ae^bx

A.  Find an expression for the sum of the squares of the vertical distances between the points and the predicted points.

B.  Use calculus to come up with a vector equation that when solved will give a formula for a and b in terms of the x_i's and y_i's.  Do not solve the equation.