Exponential Curve Fitting Script

I have some learning data that I would like to fit to a single exponential by writing a script. In particular I want to retrieve the rate of learning from the exponential (i.e., probably the decay constant) for my analysis. I really have no idea where to start.

Thanks!

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

Where you start depends on the functions you have available. The easiest nonlinear curve fitting functions are the Statistics Toolbox nlinfit or the Optimization Toolbox function lsqcurvefit. If you have none of those, fminsearch will work with an interim function to calculate the sum-of-squares. (I don’t have the Curve Fitting Toolbox, so I can’t help you with it.)

This function (or a slightly altered version depending on your data and your assumptions) will work:

expfn = @(b,x) b(1).*exp(b(2).*x);