Determine the confidence region for a model parameter.
XSPEC> error [[STOPAT <ntrial> <toler>] [MAXIMUM <redchi>]
[<delta fit statistic>] [<model param range>...]]...
where <model param range> =:: <first param>-<last param>
determines the ranges of parameters to be examined, and <delta fit statistic>
(distinguished from the model parameter indices by the inclusion of a period (.)),
is the change-in-fit statistic used. Each indicated parameter is varied,
within its allowed hard limits, until the value of chi-squared, minimized by
allowing all the other non-frozen parameters to vary, is equal to the last
value of chi-squared determined by the fit command is increased by the
indicated <delta fit statistic>. Note that before the error command is
executed, the data must be fitted. The initial default values are the range
1-1 and the delta chi-squared of 2.706, equivalent to the 90% confidence region
for a single interesting parameter.
The number of trials and the tolerance for determining when the critical fit statistic is reached can be modified by preceeding them with the STOPAT keyword. Initially, the values are 10 trials with a tolerance of 0.01 in fit statistic. If a new minimum is found in the course of finding the error, then the calculation is aborted and control returned to the user.
The MAXIMUM keyword ensures that error will not be run if the reduced chi-squared of the best fit exceeds <redchi>. The default value for <redchi> is 2.0.