Pneumotachographs (PTs) require frequent calibration. Constant flow methods allow polynomial calibration curves to be derived, but are time-consuming. The iterative syringe stroke technique is moderately efficient but results in discontinuous conductance arrays. This study investigated the derivation of first, second and third order polynomial calibration curves from six to 50 strokes of a calibration syringe. We used multiple linear regression to derive first, second and third order polynomial coefficients from two sets of six to 50 syringe strokes. In Part A peak flows did not exceed the specified linear range of the PT, while flows in Part B peaked at 160% of the maximum linear range. Conductance arrays were derived from the same data sets using a published algorithm. Volume errors of the calibration strokes and of separate sets of 70 validation strokes (Part A), and 140 validation strokes (Part B) were calculated using the polynomials and conductance arrays. Second and third order polynomials derived from ten calibration strokes achieved volume variability equal to or better than conductance arrays derived from 50 strokes. We found that evaluation of conductance arrays using the calibration syringe strokes yields falsely low volume variances. We conclude that accurate polynomial curves can be derived from as few as ten syringe strokes and the new polynomial calibration method is substantially more time-efficient than previously published conductance methods.