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ERIC Number: EJ1117366
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Oct
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: N/A
Interactive Visual Least Absolutes Method: Comparison with the Least Squares and the Median Methods
Kim, Myung-Hoon; Kim, Michelle S.
Journal of Chemical Education, v93 n10 p1737-1743 Oct 2016
A visual regression analysis using the least absolutes method (LAB) was developed, utilizing an interactive approach of visually minimizing the sum of the absolute deviations (SAB) using a bar graph in Excel; the results agree very well with those obtained from nonvisual LAB using a numerical Solver in Excel. These LAB results were compared with those from the popular least-squares method (LSQ), which minimizes the sum of the squares of the deviations (SSQ), and also with results from the median method (MED). LAB yielded similar results as LSQ for a data set with relatively smaller average deviations (<5%) as well as for data sets with relatively larger average deviations (>10%). However, for data sets with an outlier, the LAB method yielded significantly different results than LSQ. The LAB results, in all three cases, agree more closely with the results from MED of Theil and Siegel, which handles outliers better than the LSQ approach. The LAB approach (visual or numerical) is as simple and easy to implement in a spreadsheet as LSQ. The visual LAB approach may be practiced for analyzing data that requires regression in any college laboratory courses, especially when the data contain suspected outliers, because it is pedagogically more effective for visual learners than the numerical LAB with Solver.
Division of Chemical Education, Inc and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A