Abstract. This paper is concerned with the evaluation of methods for scattered data interpolation and some of the results of the tests when applied to a number of methods. The process involves evaluation of the methods in terms of timing, storage, accuracy, visual pleasantness of the surface, and ease of implementation. To indicate the flavor of the type of results obtained, we give a summary table and representative perspective plots of several surfaces.

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Cultural values, measured from Western and Eastern perspectives, are factors in economic performance which explain more than half the cross‐national variance in economic growth over two periods for samples of 18 and 20 nations. Performance seems facilitated by ‘Confucian dynamism’—stressing thrift, perseverance, and hierarchical relatedness, but not traditions impeding innovation. Cultural ‘individualism’ seems a liability, while the propensity for work in cohesive groups is an asset for economic performance. With business becoming more international, effective strategic management requires accounting for fundamental national differences such as those of culture identified in this study.

Methods for solving the following data‐fitting problems are discussed: given the data (xi, yi, fi),i = 1,…,N construct a smooth bivariate function S with the property that S(xi, yi) = fii = 1,…,N. Because the desire to fit this type of data is encountered frequently in many areas of scientific applications, an investigation of the available methods for solving this problem was undertaken. Several aspects, such as computational efficiency, fitting characteristics and ease of implementation, were analysed and compared. Within the context of a general‐purpose method for large sets of data, two of these methods emerged as being generally superior to the others. It is the purpose of this paper to describe these two methods and present examples illustrating their use and application.

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