Curve fitting is the determination of parameters in a family of curves so that one member approximates observed data. The most common criterion minimizes the sum of squared residuals, giving least squares fitting. Unlike interpolation, a fitted curve need not pass through every data point.
Curve Fitting
See also
Interpolation, Least Squares Fitting, Nonlinear Least Squares Fitting, RegressionExplore with Wolfram|Alpha
References
Bates, D. M. and Watts, D. G. Nonlinear Regression Analysis and Its Applications. New York: Wiley, 1988.Cite this as:
Weisstein, Eric W. "Curve Fitting." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/CurveFitting.html