Article
Spline Bottles
The American Statistician
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2000
Disciplines
Abstract
The relationship between the volume of a liquid in a bottle as a function of the height of the liquid is used to illustrate polynomial regression and the fitting of spline models. A polynomial regression exercise is provided where students attempt to determine the shape of a bottle using only the height and volume data from the bottle. The height and volume data for bottles are easy to obtain and provide an interesting data-collecting activity for introducing spline models in a regression course.
Citation Information
Tarpey, T., & Holcomb, J. (2000). Spline bottles. The American Statistician, 54(2), pp. 129-135.