Data modeling concepts

Conceptual explanations: modeling data with functions

In school, you generally start with a function and work from there to numbers.“Newton’s Law tells us that $F=ma$ . So if you push on a 3kg object with a 12N force, what will the acceleration be?”

In real life, the work often goes the other way. Newton didn’t start out knowing that $F=ma$ ; he observed the world around him, and concluded that $F=ma$ . In science, you begin with data—that is, numbers—and attempt to find a mathematical function that will model the data. Then you use that function to make predictions for new data. If the predictions come true, you gain confidence in your model.

So, this unit is about a few processes that can be used to look at a set of numbers and find a function that relates them.