Problem 11        Due 2/16/01

The internet is a tremendous source of
useful information, particularly that of
statistical nature.  In this problem you
will use a simple web searching algorithm
to find information on the average global
temperature over the past several centuries.

Thus:

a) Using a web search engine (there are
many possibilities, but I usually use the
google search engine at www.google.com)
find the global temperature for at least
the last century and plot the data up.  Give 
me the URL, but -not- the data!

b) Fit the data for the period 1900 - present
with a simple linear model using the normal
equations.  You will want to have saved the
data in matrix form so that it can be read in
as a matlab data file.  If the pattern of the
last century holds true, how much hotter is
it expected to be in the year 2020 than it is
today?

Hint:  I recommend using the advanced search
utility features, and use a fair number of
keywords to limit the search.  Also, you will
probably want to paste the data into a text
file which can then be edited into the appropriate
matrix form.  Note that matlab can read in a very
large number of file types, including excel
spreadsheets and tab or comma delimited files
(alot more that the simple load command allows!).
To learn more about i/o in matlab, type:

help iofun