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This book explains how the sum of squared deviations optimality functions can be interpreted as a potential energy function. For certain potential energy functions with constants \(a\) and \(b\), the test for \(a\) can be based on the difference between two potential energy levels. It provides a geometrical analogy for the simple correlation coefficient. Mechanical models are explicitly explicated and potential energy analysis is vividly discussed. The median is defined through piecewise linear potential energy functions and median centres of a set of observations. Catagorical data have been displayed through hydrostatic models in equilibrium. In such situations, new hydrostatic models correspond to the chi-squared optimality criterion. This book deals with the fitting of linear and cubic splines and methods of least squares in multivariate analysis. The book is unique in its coverage and treatment.