Say you are measuring some signal, which you expect to show an exponential decay, but you are unsure of the zero-point on your measuring device. If you want to measure the time constant of the decay you need to know what it’s decaying to. For a signal s,
In order to do conventional least-squares fitting to 
Step response of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts to ionomycin
So, the chevy Volt — that’s big.
The US environmental protection agency are in the process of developing a fuel economy standard for hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles, and according to a recent draft version of the standard, General Motors’ flagship entry into the “range-extended electric vehicle” market would clock in at 230 miles per gallon.
Recently I entered a debate in defense of the EPA’s rating. It was a retaliation against the claim that GM and the EPA have entered into a conspiracy in which the standards are designed to the specific product available and politically palatable, and the net result would be consumers’ further disillusionment at the very notion of “clean energy” when they discovered that their gleefully acquired products failed to perform to their expectations.
