40 



TABLE 17.— SHOWING THE MAKE-UP OF THE CONSTANTS OF THE LEAST- 

 SQUARES EQUATION OF THE TYPE y = a + bx -f ex 2 + dx s FOR EQUA- 

 TIONS OF VARYING DEGREES WHEN THE ABBREVIATED METHOD OF 

 BAILEY AND OF COX AND MATUSCHAK IS USED* 



This method is applicable only when succeeding values of x have a common difference 

 and are equally weighted. The independent variable, changed if necessary, must have a 

 zero value at the midpoint of the series with succeeding values differing by unity if the 

 number of terms is odd and by two if even. Values for the various k's, as computed by 

 Cox and Matuschak, are to be found in Tables 14 and 20. 



* 1'or references, see footnotes 15 and 16, p. 39. 



TABLE 18.— VALUES OF P 



2 r " x 



— e""" 2 d(hx) 



V7T J o 



P, the probability of an observational error having a value positive or negative equal to 



2 C hI 

 or less than x when h is the measure of precision, P = — r- \ c thx>2 d(hx) -h" = ($mAx 2 ) 



V7T J o 



where m = no. obs. of deviation Ax. 



SMITHSONIAN PHYSICAL TABLES 



