best fit line

#quote from 'introduction to computation and programming   
#using Python, revised, MIT press
import pylab

def getData(fileName):
    dataFile = open(fileName, 'r')
    distances = []
    masses = []
    discardHeader = dataFile.readline()
    for line in dataFile:
        d, m = line.split(' ')
        distances.append(float(d))
        masses.append(float(m))
    dataFile.close()
    return (masses, distances)
           
def fitData(inputFile):
    masses, distances = getData(inputFile)
    distances = pylab.array(distances)
    masses = pylab.array(masses)
    forces = masses*9.81
    pylab.plot(forces, distances, 'bo',
               label = 'Measured displacement')
    pylab.title('Measured Displacement of Spring')
    pylab.xlabel('|Force| (Newton)')
    pylab.ylabel('Distance (meters)')
    
    #find linear fit
    a,b = pylab.polyfit(forces, distances, 1)
    predictedDistances = a*pylab.array(forces) + b
    k = 1.0/a
    pylab.plot(forces, predictedDistances,
               label = 'Displacements predicted by\nlinear fit, k = '
               + str(round(k, 5)))
    
    #find cubic fit
    a,b,c,d = pylab.polyfit(forces, distances, 3)
    predictedDistances = a*(forces**3) + b*forces**2 + c*forces + d
    pylab.plot(forces, predictedDistances, 'b:', label = 'cubic fit')
    
    pylab.legend(loc = 'best')
    
fitData('springData.txt')
pylab.show()