8.4 In the case of a maximum likelihood fit to a 2-dimensional dataset with equal errors in the dependent variable, show that the conditions for having best-fit parameters a D 0 and b D 1 are 8ˆˆˆ<

ˆˆˆ:

N P

iD1 yi D N

P iD1 xi N

P iD1 x2i D

N P

iD1 xiyi:

(8.38)