Question

A 2-column table with 5 rows. The first column is labeled x with entries negative 4, negative 1, 0, 2, 3. The second column is labeled y with entries negative 6, negative 1, 1, 4, 7.
Find a linear function that models the data in the table.



f(x) =
x +

Answer 1

Compute the least-squares linear fit. Here mean(x) = 0 and mean(y) = 1, so the intercept = 1. The slope
m = Σ(xi yi) / Σ(xi^2) = (24+1+0+8+21) / (16+1+0+4+9) = 54/30 = 9/5.

Thus f(x) = (9/5)x + 1.