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Intro Regression

Scatterplots help make predictions by showing the relationship between two variables in data as points on a graph. A scatterplot of exam scores against study time for eight students showed a positive linear trend, with higher scores associated with more study time. However, one student was an outlier that did not fit the trend. By calculating a line of best fit, the data could be modeled with an equation to predict exam scores based on study time.

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27 views1 page

Intro Regression

Scatterplots help make predictions by showing the relationship between two variables in data as points on a graph. A scatterplot of exam scores against study time for eight students showed a positive linear trend, with higher scores associated with more study time. However, one student was an outlier that did not fit the trend. By calculating a line of best fit, the data could be modeled with an equation to predict exam scores based on study time.

Uploaded by

aconnel
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Data Analysis

How do scatterplots help to make predictions?


Student Sue Bill Terry Jay Alex Blair Sandy Carey
Time Studied for Exam (minutes) 100 107 115 120 120 130 130 140
Score on Exam 60 60 32 75 80 85 90 95

The table above shows data for eight students who took an exam. The table shows the
amount of time each student studied along with the student’s score on the exam.

The best way to make sense of the story


this data is telling is to create a scatterplot
from the data.

You’ll notice a general trend from lower


left to upper right. The story is that the
more the students studied, the better they
performed on the exam.

Except for one point, the dots lie mostly in


a straight line. We can use an equation of
this line to make predictions.

Before we do, let’s look at the one data point that doesn’t fit with the others. It’s the red
dot, and it represents Terry. Poor Terry studied more than Sue and Bill but got the worst
score on the exam. In data terms, this is called an outlier, a point that doesn’t fit with the
rest of the data.

You can use technology like a website or


graphing calculator to find the line of best
fit. Here’s the same graph after the
computer calculated and drew a line of best
fit. The equation is:

score = 1.14(time) - 65

Knowing a little about linear equations, this


means that the equation predicts that every
minute a student spends studying for this
exam will result in an increase of 1.14
points in that student’s exam score.

The process of finding an equation that fits the data is called regression.

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