
Eight Curves

        EIGHTCRV.BAS is a program that fits 8 different curves to a set
of data. The program is written in GWBasic. The program uses a printer
for most output. The printer control codes written into the program are
Star Delta 10 codes, which should be compatible with Star Gemini and
Epson codes. Most output is in condensed type. This allows the scatter
diagram, drawn in character graphics, to be as large as possible.
        To use the program, the data set containing the dependent, Y, and
predictor, X, variables must be saved in SDA (space delimited ASCII) format
on disk. SDA format is simple and easy to use. Variables are in columns
and cases are in rows. In each row of the data file, numbers are separated
by spaces in free format. EIGHTCRV assumes all variables it reads are
numeric, so any character data in the file should appear after all numeric
variables. SDA format was chosen because it is easy to create with any
text editor, like DVED, FULLEDIT, or RV-EDIT and is readable by GWBasic,
Turbo Pascal, Minitab and SPSS, among others. It is also very compact,
taking only about 25% of the disk space that .DIF files take. The file
EIGHTCRV.SDA is an example of an SDA file.
        When the program is run, it will first read data from an SDA
file. The prompts ask for the number of rows and columns in the file.
Give the number of columns of numeric data. The next prompt asks if there
is anything in the file after column --. "Anything" refers to either
other columns of numbers or character data.
        Try running EIGHTCRV.BAS using EIGHTCRV.SDA specifing X in
column 1 and Y in column 2. There are 15 rows of data in the SDA file,
nothing in the file after column 2.
        This version of the EIGHTCRV program is adapted from the program
8CURVS in the book Basic Programs for Production and Operations Manage-
ment by Pantumsinchai, Hassan and Gupta, Prentice - Hall, 1983. Some
users may find the original version more to their liking. The entire
package of programs in this book has been modified has been extensively
modified and converted to run on the IBM PC. More information about this
package may be obtained from MicroPack, Inc., 223 W. Jackson Blvd, Suite
1110, Chicago, Illinois, 60606.
        EIGHTCRV.BAS was adapted by Joseph C. Hudson, 4198 Warbler Dr.,
Flint, MI 48504. Other than receiving the generous permission of the
authors to submit this program to PC-SIG, the adaptor has no connection
with any of the firms mentioned above.
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