§ 3    Arc method and average method of curve fitting
1. The arc method of curve fitting
 
Circular fitting is a geometric method that depicts a fitted curve through observation points ( model points ) .  It replaces curves with segmented arcs and makes two adjacent arcs have a common tangent. This approach boils down to the following three situations :
It replaces curves with segmented arcs and makes two adjacent arcs have a common tangent. This approach boils down to the following three situations :
  Given circle O and two points outside the circle , , find the circle P , make it pass through the points , and be tangent ( circumscribed or inscribed ) with circle O ( Fig. 17.2 ) .
  Given circle O and two points outside the circle , , find the circle P , make it pass through the points , and be tangent ( circumscribed or inscribed ) with circle O ( Fig. 17.2 ) .


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 Let the radius of the circle O be r and the coordinates of the point O to be ( 0,0 ) . remember
         
                     
        
 , the symbol is inscribed or excised. remember again
, the symbol is inscribed or excised. remember again
           

in the formula
           

           

           

then
( i ) The coordinates of the center of the circle P are
                

( ii ) The radius R of the circle P is
        

( iii ) The coordinates of the tangent point are

         

in  
            

            

 Knowing the circle Q and a point outside the circle , find the circle P so that it passes through the fixed point and is tangent to the circle Q at the fixed point ( Figure 17.3 ) .
 
Knowing the circle Q and a point outside the circle , find the circle P so that it passes through the fixed point and is tangent to the circle Q at the fixed point ( Figure 17.3 ) .


   Let the coordinates of the center of the circle Q be ( s, t ) , then
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( i ) The coordinates of the center of the circle P are
   
                                                                         
( ii ) The radius R of the circle P is
          

  Knowing the circle Q and the circle , find the circle P so that it is tangent to the circle and to the circle Q at a fixed point ( Fig. 17.4 ) .
 
Knowing the circle Q and the circle , find the circle P so that it is tangent to the circle and to the circle Q at a fixed point ( Fig. 17.4 ) .


 Let the coordinates of the center of the circle Q be ( s, t ) and the radius be r ; the coordinates of the center of the circle are and the radius is . remember again


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then
( i ) The coordinates of the center of the circle P are
            

( ii ) The radius R of the circle is
            

( iii ) The coordinates ( x', y' ) of the tangent point A' are
            

in the formula            

 
Second, the average method of curve fitting
 
  
[ Linear ] If a series of data for two variables ( x, y ) are known to be
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| y | 
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Suppose x, y satisfy a linear relationship
                  
             
Then a and b are determined by the following equations :
             

   The dispersion of the ordinate between the straight line obtained by this method and each point
             
                  
The algebraic sum is zero.
[ Parabolic ]   If the straight line does not fit the trend of the known data, then the optional polynomial   
              
                 
to fit. For example, take the empirical curve as a quadratic polynomial
           
                
a,b,c can be determined by the following three-dimensional linear equations :
        
