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Nonlinear Curve Fitting

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” – Dr. Seuss.

1
 Objectives
• Master polynomial regression.
• Become competent in implementing multiple linear regression.
• Comprehend the formulation of the nonlinear least-squares model.
• Learn to solve for different cure fittings using MATLAB.
• Learn to apply nonlinear regression with optimization techniques.

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Polynomial Regression
Beyond 1st order

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• Nonlinear fits are often required.
• Fig.
a 1st-order polynomial (linear fit) does not fit the set of data well
 we need a 2nd order polynomial
(quadratic) fit.
→ polynomial regression

4
• The least-squares procedure can be extended to higher order polynomials.
• The 2nd order or quadratic
y = a 0 + a 1 x + a 2 x2 + e where e = error
• The sum of the squares of the residuals,
σ𝑛𝑖=1 2 2
𝑆𝑟 = 𝑦𝑖 − 𝑎0 − 𝑎1 𝑥𝑖 − 𝑎2 𝑥𝑖
• The derivatives,
𝜕𝑆𝑟
= −2 σ 𝑦𝑖 − 𝑎0 − 𝑎1 𝑥𝑖 − 𝑎2 𝑥𝑖2
𝜕𝑎0
𝜕𝑆𝑟
= −2 σ 𝑥𝑖 𝑦𝑖 − 𝑎0 − 𝑎1 𝑥𝑖 − 𝑎2 𝑥𝑖2
𝜕𝑎1
𝜕𝑆𝑟
= −2 σ 𝑥𝑖2 𝑦𝑖 − 𝑎0 − 𝑎1 𝑥𝑖 − 𝑎2 𝑥𝑖2
𝜕𝑎2

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• Setting the derivatives to zero gives,

𝑛 𝑎0 + σ 𝑥𝑖 𝑎1 + σ 𝑥𝑖2 𝑎2 = σ 𝑦𝑖
σ 𝑥𝑖 𝑎0 + σ 𝑥𝑖2 𝑎1 + σ 𝑥𝑖3 𝑎2 = σ 𝑥𝑖 𝑦𝑖
σ 𝑥𝑖2 𝑎0 + σ 𝑥𝑖3 𝑎1 + σ 𝑥𝑖4 𝑎2 = σ 𝑥𝑖2 𝑦𝑖

where all summations are from i = 1 through n.

• 2nd–order polynomial
→ 3 linear equations with 3 unknowns, a0, a1, a2.

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• General case of mth–order polynomial,
y = a 0 + a 1 x + a 2 x 2 + … + a m xm + e

→ solving m+1 linear equations, i.e., for a0, a1, a2, … am, am+1.

𝑆𝑟
• The standard error, 𝑆𝑦/𝑥 =
𝑛− 𝑚+1
It is divided by n–(m+1) because (m+1) data-derived coefficients,
a0, a1, … am+1, were used to compute Sr.

8
 Goodness of Fit
• For a 2nd order polynomial, the best fit corresponds to
n n
Sr =  e = (yi − a0 − a1 xi − a x
2
i 2 i)
2 2

i=1 i=1
• In general, for an mth order polynomial, the sum of the squares of the residuals,
n n
Sr =  e = (yi − a0 − a1 xi − a x −
2
i
2
2 i −a xm 2
m i )
 i=1 i=1

• The standard error for fitting an mth order polynomial to n data points is
Sr
s y/ x =
 n − (m +1)
because the mth order polynomial has (m+1) coefficients.

• The coefficientof determination, St − Sr

r =
2

St
where
(
2
S =
t y −y
i ) 9
 Example 7.1 2nd–order Polynomial Fit
• Given: data of (xi, yi) for n = 6 Change values to avoid copyright
xi, 0 1 2 3 4 5
yi, 2.1 7.7 13.6 27.2 40.9 61.1
• Find: 2nd-order polynomial fit
• Solution:
• We need to tally the following for a 2nd order polynomial
n
σ 𝑥𝑖 , σ 𝑥𝑖2 , σ 𝑥𝑖3 , σ 𝑥𝑖4
σ 𝑦𝑖 , σ 𝑥𝑖 𝑦𝑖 , σ 𝑥𝑖2 𝑦𝑖

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• For a 2nd order polynomial, the sum of error minimization gives
𝑛 𝑎0 + σ 𝑥𝑖 𝑎1 + σ 𝑥𝑖2 𝑎2 = σ 𝑦𝑖
σ 𝑥𝑖 𝑎0 + σ 𝑥𝑖2 𝑎1 + σ 𝑥𝑖3 𝑎2 = σ 𝑥𝑖 𝑦𝑖
σ 𝑥𝑖2 𝑎0 + σ 𝑥𝑖3 𝑎1 + σ 𝑥𝑖4 𝑎2 = σ 𝑥𝑖2 𝑦𝑖
where
n = 6 xi = 15 xi2 = 55 a0 yi = 152.6
15 55 xi3 = 225 a1  xiyi = 585.6
55 225  xi4 = 979 a2  xi2yi = 2488.8

𝑥ҧ = 2.5 𝑦ത = 25.433

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• The simultaneous linear equations are
6 15 55 a0 152.6
15 55 225 a1 = 585.6
55 225 979 a2 2488.8
• Use MATLAB to solve for the coefficients
>> N = [6 15 55; 15 55 225; 55 225 979];
>> r = [152.6 585.6 2488.8];
>> a = N\r
a=
2.4786
2.3593
1.8607 12
• The least-squares quadratic equation,
y = 2.4786 + 2.3593x + 1.8607x2
𝑆𝑟 3.74657
• The standard error, 𝑆𝑦/𝑥 = = =1.1175
𝑛− 𝑚+1 6− 2+1
• The coefficient of determination,
r2 = (2513.39 – 3.74657)/2513.39 = 0.99851
• The correlation coefficient, r = 0.99925

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 Quadratic Curve-Fitting [Ansari & Dichone, 2018]
• Consider a quadratic function,
f(x) = C0 + C1 x + C2 x2
where C0, C1 & C2 are coefficients to be determined.
• Note that Ansari & Dichone [2018] used a special case where C1 is zero.
This is not a good practice because it is not the most general form.

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• For C1 = 0, the sum of the squares of deviations,
S = [y1 – (C0 + C2 x12)]2 + [y2 – (C0 + C2 x22)]2 + … + [yn – (C0 + C2 xn2)]2.
• For minimum S, S/C0 = S/C2 = 0, i.e.,
S/C0 = σ𝑛𝑖=1 2 𝑦𝑖 − 𝐶0 − 𝐶2 𝑥𝑖2 = 0 → nC0 + (xi2 C2) = yi
S/C2 = σ𝑛𝑖=1 2 𝑦𝑖 − 𝐶0 − 𝐶2 𝑥𝑖2 𝑥𝑖2 →  (xi2 C0) + (xi4 C2) = (xi2 yi)
• In matrix form,
n  xi 2 C0 (yi)
 xi2 xi4 C2 (xi2 yi)

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 Example 7.2 Another 2nd–order Polynomial Fit

• Given:
x 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
y 0.51 2.35 7.54 13.23 17.65 24.21 28.94 37.63 58.32 63.21
• Find: f(x) = C0 + C2 x2

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 n  xi2 C0 (yi)
• Solution:  xi2 xi4 C2 (xi2 yi)
x = 0.5:0.5:5.0;
y = [0.51 2.35 7.54 … 63.21];
n = size (x,2);

M = [n, sum(x.^2); sum(x.^2), sum(x.^4)]

A = [sum(y); sum(x.^2.*y)]

C = M\A
f = C(1) + C(2)*x.^2;
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p = plot (x, y, ‘redo’, x, f, ‘blue’)
title (‘Comparison: Fitted Function with Data’)
xlabel (‘x’)
ylabel (‘y’)
legend (‘Given data’, ‘Fitted function’)
p(1) .LineWidth = 2;
p(2) .LineWidth = 2;

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M=
1.0e+03 *

0.0100 0.0963
0.0963 1.5833
A=
1.0e+03 *
n  xi2 C0 (yi)
0.2536  xi2 xi4 C2 (xi2 yi)
4.1184

C=
0.7790
2.5538
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• The quadratic function,
f(x) = 0.7790 + 2.5538 x2

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Linear Combination of
Functions
Combining Functions

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• For a given data set, (x1, y1), (x2, y2), …, (xn, yn), we can find a linear
combination of functions,
f(x) = C1 f1(x) + C2 f2(x) + … + Cm fm(x).
• Note that n = total number of data & m = total number of functions.
• The function value at xi is
f(xi) = σ𝑚
𝑗=1 [𝐶𝑗 𝑓𝑗 (𝑥𝑖 )]
• The sum of the squares of the deviations from the true (measured)
values yi is
s = [y1 – f(x1)]2 + [y2 – f(x2)]2 + … [yn – f(xn)]2.
• For minimum S,
s/C1 = s/C2 = … = s/Cn = 0
s2/C12 > 0, s2/C22 > 0, …, s2/Cn2 > 0.
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• In matrix form,
MC = L
where: C1 σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑦𝑖 ]
C2 σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑦𝑖 ]
C = : , L = :
: :
Cm σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓𝑚 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑦𝑖 ]
and
σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )] σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )] … σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓𝑚 (𝑥𝑖 )]
σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )] σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )] … σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓𝑚 (𝑥𝑖 )]
M= : : … :
: : … :
σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓𝑚 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )] σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓𝑚 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )] … σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓𝑚 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓𝑚 (𝑥𝑖 )]
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 Example 7.3 Linear Combination of C1 + C2 x3
• Given: x 1 2 3 4 5
y 5.75 10.75 12.65 29.95 49.35
• Find: y(x) = C1 f1(x) + C2 f2 (x) = C1 + C2 x3
• Solution:
• We see that n = 5 and m = 2 and hence, MC = L can be written as

σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )] σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )] C1 σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑦𝑖 ]
σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )] σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )] C2 σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑦𝑖 ]

25
x = 1:1:5;
y = [5.75 10.75 12.65 29.95 49.35];
n = size(x,2);

f1 = ones(1,n);
f2 = x.^3;

M = [sum(f1.^2), sum(f1.*f2); sum(f2.*f1), sum(f2.^2)]

L = [sum(f1.*y); sum(f2.*y)]
σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )] σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )] C1 σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑦𝑖 ]
C = M\L σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓1 (𝑥𝑖 )] σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )] C2 σ𝑛𝑖=1 [𝑓2 (𝑥𝑖 )𝑦𝑖 ]

C1 = C(1)
C2 = C(2) 26
x1 = 1: 0.1: 5;
f = C1 + C2*x1.^3;

p = plot (x, y, ‘redo’, x, f, ‘blue’)

title (‘Analysis – Generated Fit / Given Data’)
xlabel (‘x’)
ylabel (‘y’)
legend (‘Given data’, ‘Results’)
p(1) .LineWidth = 2;
p(2) .LineWidth = 2;

27
M=
2 225
225 20515

L=
1.0e+03 *

0.1084
8.5189

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 C=
5.9309
0.3502

C1 =
5.9309

C2 =
0.3502

• In short, y = f(x) = 5.9309 + 0.3502 x3

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Linear Combination of
Linear Functions
More than one independent variable

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 Multiple Linear Regression
• Another useful extension of linear regression is the case where y is a
linear function of 2 or more independent variables:
y = a0 + a1x1 + a2 x2 + am xm
• The best fit is obtained by minimizing the sum of the squares of the
estimate residuals: n n
Sr =  ei = (yi − a0 − a1 x1,i − a2 x2,i − am xm,i )
2 2

 i=1 i=1

• Similarly, for power equations,

𝑎 𝑎 𝑎
𝑦 = 𝑎0 𝑥1 1 𝑥2 2 … 𝑥𝑚𝑚

• We can transform this into a linear form by taking its logarithm to give
log y = log a0 + a1 log x1 + a2 log x2 + … + am log xm
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Multiple Linear Regression
• For y = f(x1, x2)
y = a 0 + a 1 x1 + a 2 x2 + e
• The sum of the squares of the residuals,
2
𝑆𝑟 = σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑦𝑖 − 𝑎0 − 𝑎1 𝑥1,𝑖 − 𝑎2 𝑥2,𝑖
• The derivatives,
𝜕𝑆𝑟
= −2 σ 𝑦𝑖 − 𝑎0 − 𝑎1 𝑥1,𝑖 − 𝑎2 𝑥2,𝑖
𝜕𝑎0
𝜕𝑆𝑟
= −2 σ 𝑥1,𝑖 𝑦𝑖 − 𝑎0 − 𝑎1 𝑥1,𝑖 − 𝑎2 𝑥2,𝑖
𝜕𝑎1
𝜕𝑆𝑟
= −2 σ 𝑥2,𝑖 𝑦𝑖 − 𝑎0 − 𝑎1 𝑥1,𝑖 − 𝑎2 𝑥2,𝑖
𝜕𝑎2

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• Setting the partial derivatives to zero, we have
n x1,i x2,i a0 yi
x1,i x1,i2 x1,i x2,i a1 = x1,i yi
x2,i x1,i x2,i x2,i2 a2 x2,i yi

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 Example 7.4 Multiple Linear Regression
• Given: n = 6 data created from y = 5 + 4 x1 – 3 x2
x1 0 2 2.5 1 4 7
x2 0 1 2 3 6 2
y 5 10 9 0 3 27
• Find: linear regression
• Solution:
𝜕𝑆𝑟
= −2 σ 𝑦𝑖 − 𝑎0 − 𝑎1 𝑥1,𝑖 − 𝑎2 𝑥2,𝑖
𝜕𝑎0
𝜕𝑆𝑟
= −2 σ 𝑥1,𝑖 𝑦𝑖 − 𝑎0 − 𝑎1 𝑥1,𝑖 − 𝑎2 𝑥2,𝑖
𝜕𝑎1
𝜕𝑆𝑟
= −2 σ 𝑥2,𝑖 𝑦𝑖 − 𝑎0 − 𝑎1 𝑥1,𝑖 − 𝑎2 𝑥2,𝑖
𝜕𝑎2
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• Minimizing the sum of the error by setting the partial derivatives to zero,
n x1,i x2,i a0 yi
x1,i x1,i2 (x1,ix2,i) a1 = (x1,iyi)
x2,i (x1,ix2,i) x2,i2 a2 (x2,iyi)
• The simultaneous linear equations are
6 16.5 14 a0 54
16.5 76.25 48 a1 = 243.5
14 48 54 a2 100
•  a0 = 5, a1 = 4, a2 = -3

35
Polynomial Curve Fitting
Curve-fitting with polynomials

37
• If an mth order polynomial looks like a good fit, we can still use a
linear combination of known functions,
f1(x) = 1, f2(x), f3(x) = x2, …, fm+1(x) = xm
with
f(x) = C1 f1(x) + C2 f2(x) + … + Cm+1 fm+1(x).

• We solve the C’s using matrix,

MC=L

38
• In matrix form,
MC = L
where: C1 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑦𝑖
C2 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 𝑦𝑖
C = : , L = :
: :
Cm+1 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖𝑚 𝑦𝑖
and
𝑛 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 … σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖𝑚
σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖2 … σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖𝑚+1
M= : : :
: : :
σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖𝑚 … … σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖2𝑚
39
 Example 7.5 2nd–order Polynomial
• Given: x 0 1 2 3 4 5
y 0 8.47 17.48 19.57 14.69 11.23
• Find: y(x) = C1 + C2 x + C3 x2
• Solution:
• We see that n = 6 and m = 2 and hence, MC = L can be written as

n σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖2 C1 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑦𝑖

σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖2 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖3 C2 = σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 𝑦𝑖
σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖2 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖3 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖4 C3 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖2 𝑦𝑖

40
x = 0:1:5;
y = [0 8.47 17.48 19.57 14.69 11.23];
n = size(x,2);

M = [n, sum(x), sum(x.^2); sum(x), sum(x.^2), sum(x.^3);

sum(x.^2), sum(x.^3), sum(x.^4)]
L = [sum(y); sum(x.*y); sum(x.^2.*y)]
n σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖2 C1 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑦𝑖
C = M\L σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖2 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖3 C2 = σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖 𝑦𝑖
σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖2 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖3 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖4 C3 σ𝑛𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖2 𝑦𝑖

41
x1 = 0: 0.1: 5;
f = C1 + C2*x1 + C3*x1.^2;

p = plot (x, y, ‘redo’, x, f, ‘blue’)

title (‘Second Order Polynomial Curve Fit’)
xlabel (‘x’)
ylabel (‘y’)
legend (‘Given data’, ‘Fit’)
p(1) .LineWidth = 2;
p(2) .LineWidth = 2;

42
M=
6 15 55
15 55 225
55 225 979

L=
71.4400
217.0500
770.3100

C=
-0.4439
12.4838
-2.0573 43
 C1 =
-0.4439

C2 =
12.4838

C3 =
-2.0573

• In short, f(x) = -0.4439 + 12.4838x – 2.0573 x2

44
MATLAB
Non-Linear Fit Functions
MATLAB Fit Functions

45
 MATLAB polyfit

• MATLAB has a polynomial fit function called polyfit, i.e.,

polyfit(vx, vy, N)
where vx is a vector containing the x values
vy is a vector containing the y values
N is the polynomial order

46
 Example 7.6 MATLAB 2nd–order Polynomial
• Given: Example 7.2
• Find: polynomial curve-fit using MATLAB function
• Solution:
x = 0.5: 0.5: 5.0;
y = [0.51 2.35 7.54 13.23 17.65 24.21 28.94 37.63 58.32 63.21];

C = polyfit (x,y,2)

yfit = 0.7790 + 2.5528*x.^2;

f = C(1)*x.^2 + C(2)*x + C(3);

47
 p = plot (x, y, ‘redo’, x, yfit, ‘blue’, x, f, ‘green –’)
title (‘Comparing Second Order Polynomial Curve Fit’)
xlabel (‘x’)
ylabel (‘y’)
legend (‘Given data’, ‘Fit from E.g. 7.2’, ‘MATLAB Fit’)
p(1) .LineWidth = 2;
p(2) .LineWidth = 2;
p(3) .LineWidth = 2;

C=
2.4930 0.3517 0.3963
• That is,
y(x) = 2.4930x2 + 0.3517x + 0.3963
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 MATLAB’s lsqcurvefit Function
• MATLAB has a built-in function for deducing the coefficients, C1, C2, … in
a linear combination of known functions, f1(x), f2(x), …, in the form
C1 f1(x) + C2 f2(x) + ….
• The function is
lsqcurvefit(F,x0,x,y)
where:
F is the anonymous function
x is the vector containing the x values
y is the vector containing the y values
x0 is the vector containing initial points (guesses) of C1, C2, … (0’s)
• The output is the vector contains C1, C2, … 49
 Example 7.7 MATLAB lsqcurvefit
• Given: x 1 2 3 4 5
y 5.75 10.75 12.65 29.95 49.35
y(x) = C1 f1(x) + C2 f2(x), where f1(x) = 1 and f2(x) = x3
• Find: coefficients using MATLAB function lsqcurvefit
• Solution:
x = 1: 1: 5;
y = [5.75 10.75 12.65 29.95 49.35];
n = size (x,2);
% The curve fitting functions E.g. 7.3
f1 = ones(1, n);
f2 = x.^3;
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M = [sum(f1.^2), sum(f1.*f2); sum(f2.*f1), sum(f2.^2)];
L = [sum(f1.*y); sum(f2.*y)];

C = M\L;

C1 = C(1)
C2 = C(2)

x1 = 1:0.1:5;
f = C1 + C2*x1.^3;

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% Using MATLAB’s nonlinear regression
F = @(c,x) c(1) + c(2)*x.^3;
x0 = [0, 0];
c = lsqcurvefit(F, x0, x, y);
f1 = F(c, x1);

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• Plot the results
p = plot (x, y, ‘redo’, x1, f, ‘blue’, x1, f1, ‘green –’)
title (‘Comparing Results’)
xlabel (‘x’)
ylabel (‘y’)
legend (‘Given data’, ‘Fit from E.g. 7.3’, ‘MATLAB Fit’)
p(1) .LineWidth = 2;
p(2) .LineWidth = 2;
p(3) .LineWidth = 2;

c=
5.9309 0.3502

• In short, f(x) = 5.9309 + 0.3502 x3

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 Example 7.8 Least Squares exp Fit
• Given: x 0.3 0.4 1 1.4 2 4
y 9.4 11.2 5 3 6 0
• Find: fit of the form exp(u1 + u2 x + u3 x2)
• Solution:
x = [0.3 0.4 1 1.4 2 4];
y = [9.4 11.2 5 3 6 0];

F = @ (u,x) exp(u(1) + u(2)*x + u3*x.^2);

x0 = [0, 0 , 0];

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u = lsqcurvefit (F, x0, x, y)

x1 = 0.3:0.1:4;
f = F(u, x1);

p = plot (x, y, ‘redo’, x1,f, ‘blue’)

title (‘Exponential Curve Fit’)
xlabel (‘x’)
ylabel (‘y’)
legend (‘Given data’, ‘MATLAB Fit’)
p(1) .LineWidth = 2;
p(2) .LineWidth = 2;
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 u=
2.5654 -0.7882 0.0364

• In short,
f(x) = exp(2.5654 – 0.7882 x + 0.0364 x2)

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 Example 7.9 MATLAB Least Squares ln Fit
• Given: (0, 4), (1, 5), (2, 5.5), (3, 5.8), (4, 6.2), (5, 6.5)
• Find: best fit of the form a ln(x+b) + c with initial guess [2,1,5]
• Solution:
x = 0:1:5;
y = [4 5 5.5 5.8 6.2 6.5];

F = @ (c, x) c(1)*log(x + c(2)) + c(3)

x0 = [2, 1, 5];

c = lsqcurvefit (F, x0, x, y)

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x1 = 0:.1:5;
f = F(c, x1);

p = plot (x, y, ‘redo’, x1, f, ‘blue’)

title (‘Ln Curve Fit’)
xlabel (‘x’)
ylabel (‘y’)
legend (‘Given data’, ‘MATLAB Fit’)
p(1) .LineWidth = 2;
p(2) .LineWidth = 2;

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 c=
1.3879 1.0435 3.9538

• The function is
f(x) = 1.3879 ln(x+1.0435) + 3.9538

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 Example 7.10 Least Squares ln Fit via MATLAB
• Given: x 1 2 3 4 5 6
y 5 6.5 7.25 7.80 8.25 8.63
• Find: fit of the form a ln(x) + b
• Solution:
x = 1:1:6;
y = [5 6.5 7.25 7.80 8.25 8.63];

F = @(c,x) c(1)*log(x) + c(2);

x0 = [0, 0];

c = lsqcurvefit (F, x0, x, y)

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 x1 = 1:.1:6;
f = F(c, x1);

p = plot (x, y, ‘redo’, x1, f, ‘blue’)

title (‘Ln Curve Fit’)
xlabel (‘x’)
ylabel (‘y’)
legend (‘Given data’, ‘MATLAB Fit’)
p(1) .LineWidth = 2;
p(2) .LineWidth = 2;

c=
2.0048 5.0400

• The function is
f(x) = 2.0048 ln(x) + 5.0400
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 Example 7.11 MATLAB Least Squares axb+c Fit
• Given:
x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
y 5 9 50 192 517 1123 2121 3635
• Find: fit of the form axb + c using [3, 4, 10] as the initial guess
• Solution:
x = 0:1:7;
y = [5 9 50 192 517 1123 2121 3635];

F = @(c,x) c(1)*x.^(c(2)) + c(3);

x0 = [3, 4, 10];

c = lsqcurefit(F,x0,x,y)
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x1 = 0:.1:7;
f = F(c,x1);

plot (x, y, ‘redo’, x1, f, ‘blue’)

title (‘Curve Fit’)
xlabel (‘x’)
ylabel (‘y’)
legend (‘Given data’, ‘MATLAB Fit’)
p(1) .LineWidth = 2;
p(2) .LineWidth = 2;

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 c=
3.9977 3.5003 4.9612

• The function is
f(x) = 3.9977 x3.5003 + 4.9612

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 Example 7.12 MATLAB Least Squares aebx+c Fit
• Given:
x 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Y 21 24.892 31.31 41.89 59.334 88.095 135.513 213.693 342.5889
• Find: fit of the form a exp(bx) + c using [3, 2, 10] as the initial guess
• Solution:
x = 0:1:8;
y = [21 24.892 31.31 41.89 59.334 88.095 135.513 213.693 342.5889];

F = @(c,x) c(1)*exp(c(2)*x) + c(3);

x0 = [3, 2, 10];

c = lsqcurvefit(F,x0,x,y)
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 x1 = 0:.1:8;
f = F(c,x1);

plot (x, y, ‘redo’, x1, f, ‘blue’)

title (‘Curve Fit’)
xlabel (‘x’)
ylabel (‘y’)
legend (‘Given data’, ‘MATLAB Fit’)
p(1) .LineWidth = 2;
p(2) .LineWidth = 2;

c=
6.0000 5.000 14.999

• The function is
f(x) = 6.0000 exp(0.5000x) + 14.9999
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 Tutorial Problems
Students are encouraged to complete or redo all the examples. The following problems/examples are
of particular interest and importance.

• Problem 7.1. Apply 1st–order and 2nd–order polynomial fits to the digits of your student ID, where 1
… 9 are the digits in increasing order.
x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
y 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
• Problem 7.2. Wind load on wind turbine fatigue. The number (millions) of cycles that a wind turbine
can withstand, y, is a function of the wind speed, x [m/s].
x 13.28 13.30 13.33 13.37 13.50 14.00 15.00 16.67 18.33
y 13.0 12.2 11.3 10.1 8.1 6.2 4.2 2.3 1.1
x 19.00 20.33 21.67 23.33 26.67
y 0.8 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2
Find the appropriate curve fit using MATLAB.
• Problem 7.3. Brinell hardness number, BHN, for steel as a function of temperature is:
T [K] 480 590 700 810 920
BHN 541 503 447 376 309
Use a 2nd-order polynomial to fit the data and estimate BHN at 650 K.
Do it by hand and by MATLAB. 67
• “When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life,
for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If
you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.”
– Chief Tecumseh.

• “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere

and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”
– Christopher Reeve.

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