A Visual Explanation of OLS Regression

http://setosa.io/ev/ordinary-least-squares-regression/index.html

by vicapow • 11 years ago

22 4 11 years ago

harperlee• 11 years ago

Great visualization (as the rest from http://setosa.io , go have a look)!!

I wonder, though: I learnt OLS as standard math / symbolic logic; but, if kids and students learnt from these visualization, would they be better off, or worse off?

Because, at least for me, it is difficult to reason about this and other visual math examples (whereas there are others that are great as demonstrations, as the integer proof in http://www.catonmat.net/blog/visual-math-friday/ , this one, regarding OLS, confuses me).

It probably depends a lot on each person. Out of curiosity, does this particular example give you insights? Which ones? How?

vicapow2• 11 years ago

I think it's important to remember that, for at least EV, these explanations aren't intended to stand on their own. There's a lot of good resources online already for learning this stuff. The problem, as we see it, is one of motivation and curiosity. If we can help people intuit what's happening and why it's important, we think this will help motivate people to want to get more into the details on their own.

vicapow2• 11 years ago

Also, if you're in SF and are interested in learning more about d3.js, one of the primary libraries that we used to build EV, we'll be teaching a 1 day workshop May 2nd geared towards people comfortable with data but haven't gotten deep into web programming. We'll also be using "explorable explanation" style techniques along the way.

Have a look at our preliminary workshop demos for an example: https://vicapow.github.io/d3-1-day-workshop/

I promise the demos will get more advanced and start incorporating data before the workshop :)

You can apply to the workshop here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VgBUu7znZVllkVw2d6TISzsTjGD...

The application process is to ensure everyone's at about the same level. If you're accepted, the ticket is $99 and includes food and refreshments.

huac• 11 years ago

love it. a cool feature for the visualizations after the first would be to show the SSE for the OLS line vs whatever configuration you picked.

A Visual Explanation of OLS Regression

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