We illustrate using JMP to estimate the gravitational constant g using the data below consisting of the measured distance traveled by a falling object in 1, 2, 3, ..., and 20 seconds.
These data can be downloaded here
(Instructions for importing a text file into JMP)
The theoretical equation is given below. We are to estimate g.
Below is the JMP data table:
We create a new column called model as follows:
We click OK to get the JMP calculator. In the calculator we first define parameter g using the New Parameter function as follows:
We finish creating the column "model" as follows:
The JMP data table now looks as follows:
We select the Nonlinear Fit platform from the Analyze menu:
We assign columns as follows in the resulting control panel:
After clicking OK we get the following control panel:
After clicking Reset and Go we get the estimated parameter value for g, the gravitational constant. We also get a graph of the fitted function:
