Articles | Volume 19, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12531-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12531-2019
Technical note
 | 
09 Oct 2019
Technical note |  | 09 Oct 2019

Technical note: Effects of uncertainties and number of data points on line fitting – a case study on new particle formation

Santtu Mikkonen, Mikko R. A. Pitkänen, Tuomo Nieminen, Antti Lipponen, Sini Isokääntä, Antti Arola, and Kari E. J. Lehtinen

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Cited articles

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Atmospheric measurement data never come without measurement error. Too often, these errors are neglected when researchers make inferences from their data. We applied multiple line-fitting methods to simulated data mimicking two central variables in aerosol research. Our results show that an ordinary least squares fit, typically used to describe relationships, underestimates the slope of the fit and that methods taking the measurement uncertainty into account performed significantly better.
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