Final answer:
Linear programming is not appropriate for analyzing cost behavior. It is a technique focused on resource allocation and does not provide direct insight into the relationship between cost and activity levels like the scattergraph method, industrial engineering approach, or statistical regression analysis do.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asks which method would not be appropriate for analyzing how a specific cost behaves. Among the methods listed, the one that would not be appropriate for cost behavior analysis is linear programming. Linear programming is a mathematical modeling technique used for resource allocation but is not specifically designed for analyzing how costs behave in relation to other variables.
The other methods mentioned are:
- The scattergraph method involves plotting historical cost data on a graph to visually assess the relationship between cost and activity level.
- The industrial engineering approach uses engineering evaluations to determine what costs should be based on a theoretical efficient performance.
- Statistical regression analysis looks for the best-fitting line through the data points to estimate the relationship between variables, typically using the least-squares criterion.
Thus, it's clear that linear programming does not fit the context of analyzing cost behavior as closely as the other methods do.