Question

The data below were gathered on a random sample of 5 basking sharks, swimming through the water and filter-feeding, i.e. letting the water bring food into their mouths.


Body Length (meters) Mean Speed (meters/seconds)
4 0.89
4.5 0.83
4 0.76
6.5 0.94
5.5 0.94



a) If these sharks are representative of the population of basking sharks, what would you predict is the mean speed for a filter-feeding basking shark that is 5.0 meters in length? Show any calculations below.


b) The largest basking shark in the sample is measured as 6.5 meters long. Theory predicts a maximum length of about 12.26 meters. Would it be reasonable to use the equation from part (a) above to predict the mean filter-feeding speed for a 12 meter long basking shark? Why or why not?

Answer 1

.87