The Linear Least Squares Analysis Master Page

©David L. Zellmer, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry
California State University, Fresno


Note added March 3, 1999: The following tutorials follow an historical pattern beginning with the earliest days of Excel when fewer advanced functions were available. The earliest tutorials follow a "bare bones" approach which has the student create his or her own regression equation and gives complete control over what is plotted. Even with the advanced features of the current versions, it is not possible to generate and plot the error limits without using the techniques shown here.

The LINEST() function used in these earlier tutorials contains many statistical features and is now recommended only for advanced work, such as multiple linear regression. If you think you may need to use LINEST(), you may want to work through these earlier examples.

For those students who want the latest and cleanest version of Least Squares Analysis that generates a working curve and computes the concentration (x-axis) error from an instrument response, go directly to The Model LLS Spreadsheet, which uses Office 98 for the Macintosh (almost identical to Office 97 for the PC). The instructions there are very brief, and assume some familiarity with basic formulas and graphing in Excel.


Choose the Frames or Non-Frames versions of the tutorials below. Frames allows you to see the spreadsheet example while scrolling the directions in a separate window. Non-frames is better for printing out the tutorial, or for use by those whose browser may not support frames.



For questions or comments, contact Dr. David Zellmer at david_zellmer@csufresno.edu.

Last Updated: 18 April 1999