11/15/02 4:41:17 PM, Olin Lathrop <olin_piclist@EMBEDINC.COM> wrote:

>I've seen software tools that take a series of points and automatically
>compute the coeficients for an Nth order polynomial, where you specify N.
>Most real world "smooth" functions can be modeled well enough with a 3rd
>or 4th order polynomial, which are relatively easy to compute.  This
>approach is particularly useful if the sample points contain some noise.
>The polynomial will do sortof an average fit thru the noise.

One caveat: trying to use any higher order polynomial to fit a curve usually results in a good fit
at the measured points but a really lousy fit anywhere in between.

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