[R] re: lines(lowess())

[Peter Dalgaard]

Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at pdf.com> writes:

>       Did you try Google?  For me just now, Google produced "about
> 9,800" hits, the first 10 of which seemed to be relevant;  I didn't
> look beyond that.  Lowess (sometimes called "loess") is a relatively
> old technique and has been documented in many places.  Many books on
> "exploratory data analysis" discuss it.     hope this helps.  spencer
> graves

Incidentally, "lowess" is a misunderstanding. "Loess" is a
transcription of Hungarian "Löss" (with o-diaeresis or possibly the
Hungarian accent that is like a double grave accent). I.e. it's a one
syllable word where the vowel got transcribed as an oe ligature as in
"hors d'oeuvre". However people who didn't know pronounced it lo-ess,
and... 

The thing itself is a kind of silt that gets carried by the wind,
forming a sediment layer which smooths the underlying rock surface.
Primary example is the Great Hungarian Plains (puszta), but there are
also Loess Hills in Iowa.

Undoubtedly, some guy from .hu will correct me Real Soon Now...

-- 
   O__  ---- Peter Dalgaard             Blegdamsvej 3  
  c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics     2200 Cph. N   
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