To determine the best mathematical model for your data, you should look for the model with the highest \( R^2 \) value, as a higher \( R^2 \) indicates a better fit to the data.
Here are the \( R^2 \) values you've provided:
- Linear regression: \( R^2 = 0.997 \)
- Quadratic regression: \( R^2 = 0.776 \)
- Power regression: \( R^2 = 0.788 \)
- Exponential regression: \( R^2 = 0.834 \)
The linear regression model has the highest \( R^2 \) value of \( 0.997 \). Therefore, the best mathematical model to fit the data is:
B) linear model