ABSTRACT
Population data sets were chosen as the initial sets of data on which to illustrate curve fitting because there are so many data sets concerning population and because there is a vast systematic literature already available concerning the analysis of these data. With any data set (presented in electronic or paper format), it is important first to examine the set for interesting or unusual patterns in the display. These patterns often influence decisions in choosing subsets of data and tools to analyze subsets. The World Resources Institute data base contains information, derived from World Bank data, for most countries of the world. To transfer data from an electronic data base to a spreadsheet, it is necessary to ‘‘export” the data from the database to the spreadsheet. There are a variety of default analyses that can be performed easily using spreadsheets; bar charts can be drawn, pie charts can be created, and curves can be drawn.
