This seems statistic hoo humery masking validation, conclusion, and basis..
Where is contrast taken into account with a scientific method?
Barrel type-vs-rifling method-vs-Barrel steel temp -vs- powder type-vs- powder temp -vs- air density-vs-rate of fire???
Connecting a few dots just doesn't always hold real meaning.
If alot of math is needed(and I'm sure it is), then it would surely include 'Design of Experiments'
Seems to me that a second reading is worth the time...
1- Math content was excluded on purpose to make the piece more readable.
2- It's pretty clear and obvious that MV contains in itself all variations due to an specific load/firearm, as explained in the article.
3- This is not, by any means, an article on how a barrel-type or powder affects MV. In fact, that's not required at all for the stated purpose.
4- The piece's objective is quite clear as explained in the initial paragraph.
5- What is called for is for a technique, based on sound statistics, to calculate interpolation and extrapolation under limited datasets of MV/Air Temp pairs.
6- The article clearly explains that the independent variable, Air Temperature, limits the general idea, to what's important, a "first shot from a cold-bore". So no need at all for "rate of fire"...
7- What you mean by "contrast"...? again, the article explains how different Regression methods can be employed and the differences between them. That's the whole idea, as clearly stated.
8- I never said nothing about "connecting dots" to perform other analyses rather than the exposed central idea...which is about different Regression methods.
9- A "Delta Spline", for anyone who is interested in, will take about six pages to derive and explain, which is way beyond the scope of this forum.
10- On a sidenote, this method was developed to comply with a military contract for a sniper ballistics package, now fielded.
11- On the other hand, LoadBase 3.0 (Desktop and Mobile) provides all the tools that are required to make meaningul decisions and calculations, based upon an observed dataset (Field Data of MV/Air Temp readings)