README
1Statistics::OLS
2 - perform ordinary least squares and other bivariate statistics, v 0.07.
3
4I wrote Statistics::OLS to perform Ordinary Least Squares (linear curve
5fitting) on two dimensional data: y = a + bx. The other simple
6statistical module I found on CPAN (Statistics::Descriptive) is
7designed for univariate analysis. It accomodates OLS, but somewhat
8inflexibly and without rich bivariate statistics. Nevertheless, it
9might make sense to fold OLS into that module or a supermodule someday.
10
11Statistics::OLS computes the estimated slope and intercept of the
12regression line, their T-statistics, R squared, standard error of the
13regression and the Durbin-Watson statistic. It can also return the
14residuals.
15
16It is pretty simple to do two dimensional least squares, but much
17harder to do multiple regression, so Statistics::OLS is unlikely ever
18to work with multiple independent variables. The
19Statistics::Descriptive module performs useful univariate
20statistics and is well tested. The Perl Data Language (see CPAN) may
21also prove useful for statistics. For a heavy duty, free, and open
22source statistical analysis language and environment, see the R
23project at http://www.R-project.org
24
25This is beta code, and has not been extensively tested. It has worked
26on a few published datasets. Feedback is welcome, particularly if you
27notice an error or try it with known results that are not reproduced
28correctly.
29
30Installation:
31
32Untar and unzip the distribution and cd into its directory. Then the
33usual
34
35 perl Makefile.PL
36 make
37 make test
38 make install
39
40should work. Since this is beta code, you might prefer to install it
41in a private library. In that case, replace the first command with
42
43 perl Makefile.pl PREFIX=/home/sally/myperl
44
45or whatever.
46
47Sanford Morton <smorton@pobox.com>