A team of students collected data on the growth of a plant. They plotted the

height of the plant every day and found the line of best fit y = 0.23x + 9.9
for the growth of the plant. If the actual data point for day six is (6, 7.82), what is the residual of the data point for day six? Round the answer to the nearest hundredths.

1 answer

To find the residual of the data point for day six, we first need to calculate the predicted height of the plant on day six using the equation of the line of best fit, which is:

\[ y = 0.23x + 9.9 \]

Substituting \( x = 6 \) into the equation, we can find the predicted height \( y \):

\[ y = 0.23(6) + 9.9 \] \[ y = 1.38 + 9.9 \] \[ y = 11.28 \]

The actual data point for day six is (6, 7.82).

Now, we calculate the residual, which is the difference between the actual value and the predicted value:

\[ \text{Residual} = \text{Actual} - \text{Predicted} \] \[ \text{Residual} = 7.82 - 11.28 \] \[ \text{Residual} = -3.46 \]

Thus, the residual for the data point for day six is \(-3.46\).

So, rounded to the nearest hundredths, the answer is \(-3.46\).