Question

The table to the right gives the gross domestic product (the value of all goods and services, in billions of dollars) of a certain country for selected years from 1940 to 2003.a. Create a scatter plot of the data, with y representing the GDP in billions of dollars and x representing the number of years after 1940.b. Find the linear function that best fits the data, with x equal to the number of years after 1940.c. Graph the model with the scatter plot to see if the line is a good fit for the data.

Answer 1

Given that y represents the GDP in billions of dollars and x representing the number of years after 1940.

Part A

Using a regression calculator, the scatter plot of the data is given below:

From the given options, C is the most likely one.

Part B

The linear function that best fits the data, with x equal to the number of years after 1940 is:

`\begin{gathered} y=A+Bx \\ \implies y=138.934x-492.057 \end{gathered}`

The linear function that best fits the data is y=138.934x-492.057.

Part C

The line is not a good fit for the data since it does not have about the same number of points on opposite sides of the line.