7. Chapter Summary

Wow, that's a lot of comps, huh? And all for a simple network with only two unknown points. Consider how much worse it could have been had we used the Direct Minimization method instead.

Because of the iterative nature of a non-linear solution, anything more than just a few observations results in many computations. Even if a solution is achieved in as few as three iterations, consider all the matrices which must be reformulated and recomputed. A miscalculation early on may not be detected until much later. Software is a requisite for any meaningful network adjustment.

Non-linear observations are not limited to the types discussed in this chapter. Three dimensional networks and coordinate transformations are two other applications with non-linear relationships. As long as appropriate observation equations can be developed, the Matirx Method can be used.