🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Nov12.154410.28408@athena.mit.edu> chasman@athena.mit.edu (Davi
d Chasman) writes:
>This is probably a silly question, but I can't learn if I don't ask
>questions:
There are no silly questions.
>
>I have the following data analysis problem:
>
>I have a set on values: { y_i }
>
>I hypothesize that these values are related to some x's
>by
>
>    y_i = sum_{n=1}^D x_n(i)
>
Are "i" and "n" reversed here? The example below seems to suggest
that they are.

>x_n(i) are just some values and more than 2 y_i may have an x_n(i) in common.
>Generally, D will be 1-10 :
>
>For example :
>
>  x_1(1) = 1   x_1(2) = 1
>  x_2(1) = 1   x_2(2) = 2
>  x_3(1) = 2   x_3(2) = 1
>  x_4(1) = 2   x_4(2) = 2
>
>so: y_1 = 2    y_2 = 3    y_3 = 3    y_4 = 4
>
>The questions are : (1) can I figure out what D is ?
No, not as the problem is currently posed. For instance, why couldn't
D be three (instead of two) in the example above:
x_1(1) = 1   x_1(2) = 1/2   x_1(3) = 1/2
x_2(1) = 1 = x_2(2) = x_2(3)
x_3(1) = 1 = x_3(2) = x_3(3)
x_4(1) = 2  x_4(2) = 1   x_4(3) = 1
In other words "what D is" is not yet well-defined.
>                    (2) can I giure out the x_n(i) ?
Likewise to (1)
>
>Answers to either question are appreciated
>
>Thankyou --David Chasman
[deletions]


Please don't despair, I am sure that somebody on the net can help you do
what you want to do. But try to make more formal what it is you want to do:
do these points arise from some physical process which you can describe?
Are you trying to choose D and the x's to have some specific property?
Any clarification/expansion will help.

Robert George
(speaking only for myself)

"The very essence of individual freedom is equal justice under a rule of
law, a law to which every man shall be subject and which no executive
can modify."
    Senator Robert Taft , March 11, 1944