Looking Back : Quantitative Analysis Before Computers

A few security analysts engaged in quantitative analysis long before computers became readily available. This study presents an example dating from 1972. An analyst examined the fixed cost–variable cost structure of General Motors by creating a nonlinear algebraic model, transforming the model into a two-variable linear form, and estimating the model by means of a scatter diagram. The analyst's conclusions stand up remarkably well according to regression analysis 30 years after the fact