The Nonparametric Estimation of Branching Curves
分支曲线的非参数估计
The spline smoothing approach to nonparametric regression is extended to cover the estimation of curves that branch at certain specified points in time. This extension is motivated and illustrated by data from an experiment on sunflowers. Apart from providing insight into this particular data-analytic problem, the work described demonstrates the power of the roughness penalty approach in coping with curve estimation of a nonstandard kind. Particularly in the context of…