i can cure chartists, page-30

"Charts are all about collective interpretive momentum aren't they? Everyone interprets a buy or sell technical trigger and follows that. So reverse analysis would be irrelevant since human emotion and knowledge gain can not be quantified in reverse?"



Apologies, I just realised you were commenting on my assertion that if charts are used to extrapolate to the right, they should be equally able to be extrapolated to the left (ie *predict* the past).

However, if I were to accept your argument that charts display tell-tale signs of human knowledge and emotion which can only work in the forward direction, you are still faced with my other challenge - a chartist should be able to work out whether a chart with no labels is the right way up. It should have the hallmarks of human knowledge, should it not ?

I will be fair.
If charts can solve future *extrapolation* then it would be a lot easier to solve the much simpler problem of *interpolation*.

Picture a chart of any length.
There is one gap in the middle of it, say one data point missing.
I am giving you everything here. All the history to the left of the gap to help fill the gap, and all the future to the right of the gap.

The simple challenge is this.
Predict the missing data point in a statistical significant way.
My guess will always be to join the dots with a staight line.
What will the chartist do to better my guess in a statistical significant way ?