In this case, you should probably choose your curve based on which one most
closely calculates the half-life of a substance having a known (published)
half-life similar to the half-lives that you found experimentally.
--
Anne Murray


"jcoleman52" wrote:


Can anyone (briefly) compare and contrast these two Excel features? We
have a set of data from a study for which we are trying to plot a decay
curve with an accompanying half-life calculation. One option is to
create a plot of the data with an exponential trendline (Y=b*exp^cx).
Another is to use the Solve add-in, utilizing the same equation, and
minimize the sum of the squared deviations by manipulating the
regression coefficients (b and c). Both methods seem to yield a curve
that gives a reasonable approximation of the observed data, but with
slightly different rate coefficients, which will of course yield
slightly different half-lives. Any thoughts on which approach is more
appropriate? Thanks.


--
jcoleman52
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