Move the zero point

A journey through centring on the mean with Botie.

Data Preparation · A journey with Botie

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Botie's notebook

Where Should We Put the Origin?

Part 1 of 3

Suppose we are interested in how a group of measurements varies. Measuring everything from zero mixes two questions: where the group is located, and how its members differ from one another. For heights, zero is physically meaningful, but it is a long way from the people we are comparing.

Sources for this history

Pearson (1901), On Lines and Planes of Closest Fit to Systems of Points in Space

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