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How to calculate "relative error in the sum of squares" and "relative error in the approximate solution" from least squares method?

I have implemented a 3D gaussian fit using scipy.optimize.leastsq and now I would like to tweak the arguments ftol and xtol to optimize the performances. However, I don't understand the "units" of these two parameters in order to make a proper choice. Is it possible to calculate these two parameters from the results? That would give me an understanding of how to choose them. My data is numpy arrays of np.uint8. I tried to read the FORTRAN source code of MINIPACK but my FORTRAN knowledge is zero. I also read checked the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, but I could not really get a number that was below the ftol for example.
Here is a minimal example of what I do:
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from scipy.optimize import leastsq
class gaussian_model:
def __init__(self):
self.prev_iter_model = None
self.f_vals = []
def gaussian_1D(self, coeffs, xx):
A, sigma, mu = coeffs
# Center rotation around peak center
x0 = xx - mu
model = A*np.exp(-(x0**2)/(2*(sigma**2)))
return model
def residuals(self, coeffs, I_obs, xx, model_func):
model = model_func(coeffs, xx)
residuals = I_obs - model
if self.prev_iter_model is not None:
self.f = np.sum(((model-self.prev_iter_model)/model)**2)
self.f_vals.append(self.f)
self.prev_iter_model = model
return residuals
# x data
x_start = 1
x_stop = 10
num = 100
xx, dx = np.linspace(x_start, x_stop, num, retstep=True)
# Simulated data with some noise
A, s_x, mu = 10, 0.5, 3
coeffs = [A, s_x, mu]
model = gaussian_model()
yy = model.gaussian_1D(coeffs, xx)
noise_ampl = 0.5
noise = np.random.normal(0, noise_ampl, size=num)
yy += noise
# LM Least squares
initial_guess = [1, 1, 1]
pred_coeffs, cov_x, info, mesg, ier = leastsq(model.residuals, initial_guess,
args=(yy, xx, model.gaussian_1D),
ftol=1E-6, full_output=True)
yy_fit = model.gaussian_1D(pred_coeffs, xx)
rel_SSD = np.sum(((yy-yy_fit)/yy)**2)
RMS_SSD = np.sqrt(rel_SSD/num)
print(RMS_SSD)
print(model.f)
print(model.f_vals)
fig, ax = plt.subplots(1,2)
# Plot results
ax[0].scatter(xx, yy)
ax[0].plot(xx, yy_fit, c='r')
ax[1].scatter(range(len(model.f_vals)), model.f_vals, c='r')
# ax[1].set_ylim(0, 1E-6)
plt.show()
rel_SSD is around 1 and definitely not something below ftol = 1E-6.
EDIT: Based on #user12750353 answer below I updated my minimal example to try to recreate how lmdif determines termination with ftol. The problem is that my f_vals are too small, so they are not the right values. The reason I would like to recreate this is that I would like to see what kind of numbers I am getting on my main code to decide on a ftol that would terminate the fitting process earlier.

Since you are giving a function without the gradient, the method called is lmdif. Instead of gradients it will use forward difference gradient estimate, f(x + delta) - f(x) ~ delta * df(x)/dx (I will write as if the parameter).
There you find the following description
c ftol is a nonnegative input variable. termination
c occurs when both the actual and predicted relative
c reductions in the sum of squares are at most ftol.
c therefore, ftol measures the relative error desired
c in the sum of squares.
c
c xtol is a nonnegative input variable. termination
c occurs when the relative error between two consecutive
c iterates is at most xtol. therefore, xtol measures the
c relative error desired in the approximate solution.
Looking in the code the actual reduction acred = 1 - (fnorm1/fnorm)**2 is what you calculated for rel_SSD, but between the two last iterations, not between the fitted function and the target points.
Example
The problem here is that we need to discover what are the values assumed by the internal variables. An attempt to do so is to save the coefficients and the residual norm every time the function is called as follows.
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from scipy.optimize import leastsq
class gaussian_model:
def __init__(self):
self.prev_iter_model = None
self.fnorm = []
self.x = []
def gaussian_1D(self, coeffs, xx):
A, sigma, mu = coeffs
# Center rotation around peak center
x0 = xx - mu
model = A*np.exp(-(x0**2)/(2*(sigma**2)))
grad = np.array([
model / A,
model * x0**2 / (sigma**3),
model * 2 * x0 / (2*(sigma**2))
]).transpose();
return model, grad
def residuals(self, coeffs, I_obs, xx, model_func):
model, grad = model_func(coeffs, xx)
residuals = I_obs - model
self.x.append(np.copy(coeffs));
self.fnorm.append(np.sqrt(np.sum(residuals**2)))
return residuals
def grad(self, coeffs, I_obs, xx, model_func):
model, grad = model_func(coeffs, xx)
residuals = I_obs - model
return -grad
def plot_progress(self):
x = np.array(self.x)
dx = np.sqrt(np.sum(np.diff(x, axis=0)**2, axis=1))
plt.plot(dx / np.sqrt(np.sum(x[1:, :]**2, axis=1)))
fnorm = np.array(self.fnorm)
plt.plot(1 - (fnorm[1:]/fnorm[:-1])**2)
plt.legend(['$||\Delta f||$', '$||\Delta x||$'], loc='upper left');
# x data
x_start = 1
x_stop = 10
num = 100
xx, dx = np.linspace(x_start, x_stop, num, retstep=True)
# Simulated data with some noise
A, s_x, mu = 10, 0.5, 3
coeffs = [A, s_x, mu]
model = gaussian_model()
yy, _ = model.gaussian_1D(coeffs, xx)
noise_ampl = 0.5
noise = np.random.normal(0, noise_ampl, size=num)
yy += noise
Then we can see the relative variation of $x$ and $f$
initial_guess = [1, 1, 1]
pred_coeffs, cov_x, info, mesg, ier = leastsq(model.residuals, initial_guess,
args=(yy, xx, model.gaussian_1D),
xtol=1e-6,
ftol=1e-6, full_output=True)
plt.figure(figsize=(14, 6))
plt.subplot(121)
model.plot_progress()
plt.yscale('log')
plt.grid()
plt.subplot(122)
yy_fit,_ = model.gaussian_1D(pred_coeffs, xx)
# Plot results
plt.scatter(xx, yy)
plt.plot(xx, yy_fit, c='r')
plt.show()
The problem with this is that the function is evaluated both to compute f and to compute the gradient of f. To produce a cleaner plot what can be done is to implement pass Dfun so that it evaluate func only once per iteration.
# x data
x_start = 1
x_stop = 10
num = 100
xx, dx = np.linspace(x_start, x_stop, num, retstep=True)
# Simulated data with some noise
A, s_x, mu = 10, 0.5, 3
coeffs = [A, s_x, mu]
model = gaussian_model()
yy, _ = model.gaussian_1D(coeffs, xx)
noise_ampl = 0.5
noise = np.random.normal(0, noise_ampl, size=num)
yy += noise
# LM Least squares
initial_guess = [1, 1, 1]
pred_coeffs, cov_x, info, mesg, ier = leastsq(model.residuals, initial_guess,
args=(yy, xx, model.gaussian_1D),
Dfun=model.grad,
xtol=1e-6,
ftol=1e-6, full_output=True)
plt.figure(figsize=(14, 6))
plt.subplot(121)
model.plot_progress()
plt.yscale('log')
plt.grid()
plt.subplot(122)
yy_fit,_ = model.gaussian_1D(pred_coeffs, xx)
# Plot results
plt.scatter(xx, yy)
plt.plot(xx, yy_fit, c='r')
plt.show()
Well, the value I am obtaining for xtol is not exactly what is in the lmdif implementation.

Python: How do I fit a line to a specific interval of data?

I am trying to fit a line to the 9.0 to 10.0 um regime of my data set. Here is my plot:
Unfortunately, it's a scatter plot with the x values not being indexed from small numbers to large numbers so I can't just apply the optimize.curve_fit function to a specific range of indices to get the desired range in x values.
Below is my go-to procedure for curve fitting. How would I modify it to only get a fit for the 9.0 to 10.0 um x-value range (in my case, the x_dist variable) which has points scattered randomly throughout the indices?
def func(x,a,b): # Define your fitting function
return a*x+b
initialguess = [-14.0, 0.05] # initial guess for the parameters of the function func
fit, covariance = optimize.curve_fit( # call to the fitting routine curve_fit. Returns optimal values of the fit parameters, and their estimated variance
func, # function to fit
x_dist, # data for independant variable
xdiff_norm, # data for dependant variable
initialguess, # initial guess of fit parameters
) # uncertainty in dependant variable
print("linear coefficient:",fit[0],"+-",np.sqrt(covariance[0][0])) #print value and one std deviation of first fit parameter
print("offset coefficient:",fit[1],"+-",np.sqrt(covariance[1][1])) #print value and one std deviation of second fit parameter
print(covariance)

You correctly identified that the problem arises because your x-value data are not ordered. You can address this problem differently. One way is to use Boolean masks to filter out the unwanted values. I tried to be as close as possible to your example:
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
from scipy import optimize
#fake data generation
np.random.seed(1234)
arr = np.linspace(0, 15, 100).reshape(2, 50)
arr[1, :] = np.random.random(50)
arr[1, 20:45] += 2 * arr[0, 20:45] -5
rng = np.random.default_rng()
rng.shuffle(arr, axis = 1)
x_dist = arr[0, :]
xdiff_norm = arr[1, :]
def func(x, a, b):
return a * x + b
initialguess = [5, 3]
mask = (x_dist>2.5) & (x_dist<6.6)
fit, covariance = optimize.curve_fit(
func,
x_dist[mask],
xdiff_norm[mask],
initialguess)
plt.scatter(x_dist, xdiff_norm, label="data")
x_fit = np.linspace(x_dist[mask].min(), x_dist[mask].max(), 100)
y_fit = func(x_fit, *fit)
plt.plot(x_fit, y_fit, c="red", label="fit")
plt.legend()
plt.show()
Sample output:
This approach does not modify x_dist and xdiff_norm which might or might not be a good thing for further data evaluation. If you wanted to use a line plot instead of a scatter plot, it might be rather useful to sort your arrays in advance (try a line plot with the above method to see why):
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
from scipy import optimize
#fake data generation
np.random.seed(1234)
arr = np.linspace(0, 15, 100).reshape(2, 50)
arr[1, :] = np.random.random(50)
arr[1, 20:45] += 2 * arr[0, 20:45] -5
rng = np.random.default_rng()
rng.shuffle(arr, axis = 1)
x_dist = arr[0, :]
xdiff_norm = arr[1, :]
def func(x, a, b):
return a * x + b
#find indexes of a sorted x_dist array, then sort both arrays based on this index
ind = x_dist.argsort()
x_dist = x_dist[ind]
xdiff_norm = xdiff_norm[ind]
#identify index where linear range starts for normal array indexing
start = np.argmax(x_dist>2.5)
stop = np.argmax(x_dist>6.6)
initialguess = [5, 3]
fit, covariance = optimize.curve_fit(
func,
x_dist[start:stop],
xdiff_norm[start:stop],
initialguess)
plt.plot(x_dist, xdiff_norm, label="data")
x_fit = np.linspace(x_dist[start], x_dist[stop], 100)
y_fit = func(x_fit, *fit)
plt.plot(x_fit, y_fit, c="red", ls="--", label="fit")
plt.legend()
plt.show()
Sample output (unsurprisingly not much different):

Why doesn't minimizing squared errors with scipy's minimize give the same result as using curve_fit?

As an example, here's my code for fitting multiexponential decays with a monoexponential decay (this doesn't produce a good fit, but it still works as an example):
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from scipy.optimize import minimize, curve_fit
lifetimes = [1e-9, 2e-9, 4e-9, 8e-9]
amplitudes = [1000, 1000, 1000, 1000]
background = 10
t = np.arange(1024)*1e-10
y = np.zeros(len(t))
for i in range(len(lifetimes)):
y += amplitudes[i] * np.exp(-t/lifetimes[i])
y += np.random.poisson(background, len(y))
def fit_fun(t, amplitude, lifetime, background):
return amplitude * np.exp(-t/lifetime) + background
def loss_fun(params, x, y, fit_fun, c=5):
fit_y = fit_fun(x, *params)
residuals = y - fit_y
loss = np.sum(residuals**2)
return loss
p0 = [1000, 6e-9, 10]
result = minimize(loss_fun, p0, args=(t, y, fit_fun))
params_minimize = result.x
minimize_y = fit_fun(t, *params_minimize)
params_fit, _ = curve_fit(fit_fun, t, y, p0)
fit_y = fit_fun(t, *params_fit)
plt.semilogy(t, y)
plt.semilogy(t, minimize_y)
plt.semilogy(t, fit_y)
plt.ylim([1, plt.ylim()[1]])
plt.show()
Here are the resulting fits (Green was fitted with curve_fit and orange with minimize).
So, why doesn't using minimize work properly?
Also, the reason I'm doing this is that I want to implement a loss function other than least squares. If it isn't possible this way, how could I do that?

How to get confidence intervals from curve_fit

My question involves statistics and python and I am a beginner in both. I am running a simulation, and for each value for the independent variable (X) I produce 1000 values for the dependent variable (Y). What I have done is that I calculated the average of Y for each value of X and fitted these averages using scipy.optimize.curve_fit. The curve fits nicely, but I want to draw also the confidence intervals. I am not sure if what I am doing is correct or if what I want to do can be done, but my question is how can I get the confidence intervals from the covariance matrix produced by curve_fit. The code reads the averages from files first then it just simply uses curve_fit.
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from scipy.optimize import curve_fit
def readTDvsTx(L, B, P, fileformat):
# L should be '_Fixed_' or '_'
TD = []
infile = open(fileformat.format(L, B, P), 'r')
infile.readline() # To remove header
for line in infile:
l = line.split() # each line contains TxR followed by CD followed by TD
if eval(l[0]) >= 70 and eval(l[0]) <=190:
td = eval(l[2])
TD.append(td)
infile.close()
tdArray = np.array(TD)
return tdArray
def rec(x, a, b):
return a * (1 / (x**2)) + b
fileformat = 'Densities_file{}BS{}_PRNTS{}.txt'
txR = np.array(range(70, 200, 20))
parents = np.array(range(1,6))
disc_p1 = readTDvsTx('_Fixed_', 5, 1, fileformat)
popt, pcov = curve_fit(rec, txR, disc_p1)
plt.plot(txR, rec(txR, popt[0], popt[1]), 'r-')
plt.plot(txR, disc_p1, '.')
print(popt)
plt.show()
And here is the resulting fit:

Here's a quick and wrong answer: you can approximate the errors from the covariance matrix for your a and b parameters as the square root of its diagonals: np.sqrt(np.diagonal(pcov)). The parameter uncertainties can then be used to draw the confidence intervals.
The answer is wrong because you before you fit your data to a model, you'll need an estimate of the errors on your averaged disc_p1 points. When averaging, you have lost the information about the scatter of the population, leading curve_fit to believe that the y-points you feed it are absolute and undisputable. This might cause an underestimation of your parameter errors.
For an estimate of the uncertainties of your averaged Y values, you need to estimate their dispersion measure and pass it along to curve_fit while saying that your errors are absolute. Below is an example of how to do this for a random dataset where each of your points consists of a 1000 samples drawn from a normal distribution.
from scipy.optimize import curve_fit
import matplotlib.pylab as plt
import numpy as np
# model function
func = lambda x, a, b: a * (1 / (x**2)) + b
# approximating OP points
n_ypoints = 7
x_data = np.linspace(70, 190, n_ypoints)
# approximating the original scatter in Y-data
n_nested_points = 1000
point_errors = 50
y_data = [func(x, 4e6, -100) + np.random.normal(x, point_errors,
n_nested_points) for x in x_data]
# averages and dispersion of data
y_means = np.array(y_data).mean(axis = 1)
y_spread = np.array(y_data).std(axis = 1)
best_fit_ab, covar = curve_fit(func, x_data, y_means,
sigma = y_spread,
absolute_sigma = True)
sigma_ab = np.sqrt(np.diagonal(covar))
from uncertainties import ufloat
a = ufloat(best_fit_ab[0], sigma_ab[0])
b = ufloat(best_fit_ab[1], sigma_ab[1])
text_res = "Best fit parameters:\na = {}\nb = {}".format(a, b)
print(text_res)
# plotting the unaveraged data
flier_kwargs = dict(marker = 'o', markerfacecolor = 'silver',
markersize = 3, alpha=0.7)
line_kwargs = dict(color = 'k', linewidth = 1)
bp = plt.boxplot(y_data, positions = x_data,
capprops = line_kwargs,
boxprops = line_kwargs,
whiskerprops = line_kwargs,
medianprops = line_kwargs,
flierprops = flier_kwargs,
widths = 5,
manage_ticks = False)
# plotting the averaged data with calculated dispersion
#plt.scatter(x_data, y_means, facecolor = 'silver', alpha = 1)
#plt.errorbar(x_data, y_means, y_spread, fmt = 'none', ecolor = 'black')
# plotting the model
hires_x = np.linspace(50, 190, 100)
plt.plot(hires_x, func(hires_x, *best_fit_ab), 'black')
bound_upper = func(hires_x, *(best_fit_ab + sigma_ab))
bound_lower = func(hires_x, *(best_fit_ab - sigma_ab))
# plotting the confidence intervals
plt.fill_between(hires_x, bound_lower, bound_upper,
color = 'black', alpha = 0.15)
plt.text(140, 800, text_res)
plt.xlim(40, 200)
plt.ylim(0, 1000)
plt.show()
Edit:
If you are not considering the intrinsic errors on the data points, you are probably fine with using the "qiuck and wrong" case I mentioned before. The square root of the diagonal entries of covariance matrix can then be used to calculate your confidence intervals. However, note that the confidence intervals have shrunk now that we've dropped the uncertainties:
from scipy.optimize import curve_fit
import matplotlib.pylab as plt
import numpy as np
func = lambda x, a, b: a * (1 / (x**2)) + b
n_ypoints = 7
x_data = np.linspace(70, 190, n_ypoints)
y_data = np.array([786.31, 487.27, 341.78, 265.49,
224.76, 208.04, 200.22])
best_fit_ab, covar = curve_fit(func, x_data, y_data)
sigma_ab = np.sqrt(np.diagonal(covar))
# an easy way to properly format parameter errors
from uncertainties import ufloat
a = ufloat(best_fit_ab[0], sigma_ab[0])
b = ufloat(best_fit_ab[1], sigma_ab[1])
text_res = "Best fit parameters:\na = {}\nb = {}".format(a, b)
print(text_res)
plt.scatter(x_data, y_data, facecolor = 'silver',
edgecolor = 'k', s = 10, alpha = 1)
# plotting the model
hires_x = np.linspace(50, 200, 100)
plt.plot(hires_x, func(hires_x, *best_fit_ab), 'black')
bound_upper = func(hires_x, *(best_fit_ab + sigma_ab))
bound_lower = func(hires_x, *(best_fit_ab - sigma_ab))
# plotting the confidence intervals
plt.fill_between(hires_x, bound_lower, bound_upper,
color = 'black', alpha = 0.15)
plt.text(140, 630, text_res)
plt.xlim(60, 200)
plt.ylim(0, 800)
plt.show()
If you're unsure whether to include the absolute errors or how to estimate them in your case, you'd be better off asking for advice at Cross Validated, as Stack Overflow is mainly for discussion on implementations of regression methods and not for discussion on the underlying statistics.

Python curve_fit with multiple independent variables

Python's curve_fit calculates the best-fit parameters for a function with a single independent variable, but is there a way, using curve_fit or something else, to fit for a function with multiple independent variables? For example:
def func(x, y, a, b, c):
return log(a) + b*log(x) + c*log(y)
where x and y are the independent variable and we would like to fit for a, b, and c.

You can pass curve_fit a multi-dimensional array for the independent variables, but then your func must accept the same thing. For example, calling this array X and unpacking it to x, y for clarity:
import numpy as np
from scipy.optimize import curve_fit
def func(X, a, b, c):
x,y = X
return np.log(a) + b*np.log(x) + c*np.log(y)
# some artificially noisy data to fit
x = np.linspace(0.1,1.1,101)
y = np.linspace(1.,2., 101)
a, b, c = 10., 4., 6.
z = func((x,y), a, b, c) * 1 + np.random.random(101) / 100
# initial guesses for a,b,c:
p0 = 8., 2., 7.
print(curve_fit(func, (x,y), z, p0))
Gives the fit:
(array([ 9.99933937, 3.99710083, 6.00875164]), array([[ 1.75295644e-03, 9.34724308e-05, -2.90150983e-04],
[ 9.34724308e-05, 5.09079478e-06, -1.53939905e-05],
[ -2.90150983e-04, -1.53939905e-05, 4.84935731e-05]]))

optimizing a function with multiple input dimensions and a variable number of parameters
This example shows how to fit a polynomial with a two dimensional input (R^2 -> R) by an increasing number of coefficients. The design is very flexible so that the callable f from curve_fit is defined once for any number of non-keyword arguments.
minimal reproducible example
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from scipy.optimize import curve_fit
def poly2d(xy, *coefficients):
x = xy[:, 0]
y = xy[:, 1]
proj = x + y
res = 0
for order, coef in enumerate(coefficients):
res += coef * proj ** order
return res
nx = 31
ny = 21
range_x = [-1.5, 1.5]
range_y = [-1, 1]
target_coefficients = (3, 0, -19, 7)
xs = np.linspace(*range_x, nx)
ys = np.linspace(*range_y, ny)
im_x, im_y = np.meshgrid(xs, ys)
xdata = np.c_[im_x.flatten(), im_y.flatten()]
im_target = poly2d(xdata, *target_coefficients).reshape(ny, nx)
fig, axs = plt.subplots(2, 3, figsize=(29.7, 21))
axs = axs.flatten()
ax = axs[0]
ax.set_title('Unknown polynomial P(x+y)\n[secret coefficients: ' + str(target_coefficients) + ']')
sm = ax.imshow(
im_target,
cmap = plt.get_cmap('coolwarm'),
origin='lower'
)
fig.colorbar(sm, ax=ax)
for order in range(5):
ydata=im_target.flatten()
popt, pcov = curve_fit(poly2d, xdata=xdata, ydata=ydata, p0=[0]*(order+1) )
im_fit = poly2d(xdata, *popt).reshape(ny, nx)
ax = axs[1+order]
title = 'Fit O({:d}):'.format(order)
for o, p in enumerate(popt):
if o%2 == 0:
title += '\n'
if o == 0:
title += ' {:=-{w}.1f} (x+y)^{:d}'.format(p, o, w=int(np.log10(max(abs(p), 1))) + 5)
else:
title += ' {:=+{w}.1f} (x+y)^{:d}'.format(p, o, w=int(np.log10(max(abs(p), 1))) + 5)
title += '\nrms: {:.1f}'.format( np.mean((im_fit-im_target)**2)**.5 )
ax.set_title(title)
sm = ax.imshow(
im_fit,
cmap = plt.get_cmap('coolwarm'),
origin='lower'
)
fig.colorbar(sm, ax=ax)
for ax in axs.flatten():
ax.set_xlabel('x')
ax.set_ylabel('y')
plt.show()
P.S. The concept of this answer is identical to my other answer here, but the code example is way more clear. At the time given, I will delete the other answer.

Fitting to an unknown numer of parameters
In this example, we try to reproduce some measured data measData.
In this example measData is generated by the function measuredData(x, a=.2, b=-2, c=-.8, d=.1). I practice, we might have measured measData in a way - so we have no idea, how it is described mathematically. Hence the fit.
We fit by a polynomial, which is described by the function polynomFit(inp, *args). As we want to try out different orders of polynomials, it is important to be flexible in the number of input parameters.
The independent variables (x and y in your case) are encoded in the 'columns'/second dimension of inp.
import numpy as np
import matplotlib
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from scipy.optimize import curve_fit
def measuredData(inp, a=.2, b=-2, c=-.8, d=.1):
x=inp[:,0]
y=inp[:,1]
return a+b*x+c*x**2+d*x**3 +y
def polynomFit(inp, *args):
x=inp[:,0]
y=inp[:,1]
res=0
for order in range(len(args)):
print(14,order,args[order],x)
res+=args[order] * x**order
return res +y
inpData=np.linspace(0,10,20).reshape(-1,2)
inpDataStr=['({:.1f},{:.1f})'.format(a,b) for a,b in inpData]
measData=measuredData(inpData)
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.plot(np.arange(inpData.shape[0]), measData, label='measuered', marker='o', linestyle='none' )
for order in range(5):
print(27,inpData)
print(28,measData)
popt, pcov = curve_fit(polynomFit, xdata=inpData, ydata=measData, p0=[0]*(order+1) )
fitData=polynomFit(inpData,*popt)
ax.plot(np.arange(inpData.shape[0]), fitData, label='polyn. fit, order '+str(order), linestyle='--' )
ax.legend( loc='upper left', bbox_to_anchor=(1.05, 1))
print(order, popt)
ax.set_xticklabels(inpDataStr, rotation=90)
Result:

Yes. We can pass multiple variables for curve_fit. I have written a piece of code:
import numpy as np
x = np.random.randn(2,100)
w = np.array([1.5,0.5]).reshape(1,2)
esp = np.random.randn(1,100)
y = np.dot(w,x)+esp
y = y.reshape(100,)
In the above code I have generated x a 2D data set in shape of (2,100) i.e, there are two variables with 100 data points. I have fit the dependent variable y with independent variables x with some noise.
def model_func(x,w1,w2,b):
w = np.array([w1,w2]).reshape(1,2)
b = np.array([b]).reshape(1,1)
y_p = np.dot(w,x)+b
return y_p.reshape(100,)
We have defined a model function that establishes relation between y & x.
Note: The shape of output of the model function or predicted y should be (length of x,)
popt, pcov = curve_fit(model_func,x,y)
The popt is an 1D numpy array containing predicted parameters. In our case there are 3 parameters.

Yes, there is: simply give curve_fit a multi-dimensional array for xData.