Abstract
THE method of least squares has an extensive literature of its own. Our author, in a sketch appended to his work, gives the titles of forty-seven of the most important memoirs and books which treat of this subject and of the law of errors of observation. He further “takes the wind out of the sails” of his reviewers by saying: “It would be easy to greatly extend the limits of this list. The titles have, in fact, been selected from a list of about four hundred, which I hope some time to publish, accompanied by historical and critical notes.” Though this is an unkind cut, inasmuch as a reviewer will hardly care to bring forward any references of his own, we yet trust Dr. Merriman will be sufficiently encouraged to bring out this promised contribution to the history of a particular branch of mathematics. The writer's objects are “to present the fundamental principles and processes of the method in so plain a manner and to illustrate their application by such simple and practical examples as to render it accessible to civil engineers who have not had the benefit of extended mathematical training; and secondly, to give an elementary exposition of the theory which should be adapted to the needs of a large and constantly-increasing class of students.” Hence the book is both a practical and a theoretical one. The first part is concerned with the adjustment and comparison of engineering observations in which, after giving an introduction on the principles of probability and the method of least squares, he treats of direct observations upon a single quantity and independent observations upon several quantities, conditioned observations, and the discussions of physical observations.
Elements of the Method of Least Squares.
By Mansfield Merriman, Instructor in Civil Engineering in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College. (London: Macmillan.)
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Elements of the Method of Least Squares.. Nature 18, 299 (1878). https://doi.org/10.1038/018299a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/018299a0