Exercise 3.3.13. Using least squares, find the line that is the best fit to the following measurements:
at
at
at
at
Also, given the matrix
find the projection of onto the column space
.
Answer: Assuming that the line in question has the form the problem can be expressed as that of finding a solution to the system
or where
is the exact solution.
In this case there is no exact solution, so we look for the least squares solution that minimizes the error vector
. The error vector is minimized when it is orthogonal to the column space of
and is therefore in the left nullspace of
. We then have
so that
is a solution to the system
.
We have
and
so that the system reduces to
or
expressed as a system of equations.
Multiplying the first equation by and adding it to the second equation produces the system
From the second equation we have . Substituting that value into the first equation we have
or
.
The line of best fit is therefore .
Given the matrix
the projection matrix onto the column space of
can be computed as
From above we have
so that its inverse is
We then have
The projection of the vector onto the column space of
is then
The vector corresponds to the points on the least squares line of best fit
for the times
:
NOTE: This continues a series of posts containing worked out exercises from the (out of print) book Linear Algebra and Its Applications, Third Edition by Gilbert Strang.
If you find these posts useful I encourage you to also check out the more current Linear Algebra and Its Applications, Fourth Edition, Dr Strang’s introductory textbook Introduction to Linear Algebra, Fifth Edition
and the accompanying free online course, and Dr Strang’s other books
.