Re: free fall data

[brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>]

At 09:12 9/14/97 -0400, you wrote:
....
> How ... students analyze error ...could be as easy
> as ... draw[ing] three straight lines through the velocity versus time
> graph, using the eyeball method to find the best slope (& intercept), the
> maximum slope  (& intercept), and the minimum slope  (& intercept).  They can
> then write three equations each for position, displacement, and velocity.
> However, this may be difficult if the velocity data is good to begin with.
> ...
> Bob Carlson

This whole contribution is so resoundingly sensible it is tempting to leave
well enough alone. But that is not my way...

 A simple skill, a necessary skill, and an easy skill for beginning
experimentalists is to exploit some simple freeware graph plotting program
that will find the best straight-line fit.
 This has the benefit that it discourages manually fudging the data, which
is the poison in the soul of science.

Sincerely

brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK