I need to write a linear function using the following data:

Question

Year Life Expectancy In Years
1940 62.5
1950 71.1
1960 73.1
1970 74.7
1980 77.5
1990 78.8

I know the formula is y=mx+b but im not sure how to determine that from what I have been given.

Thanks for the help!!

Answer 1

first, check the differences:
8.6
2.0
1.6
2.8
1.3
Doesn't look good, since there's no obvious slope. Is this a class in statistics, where you cover linear regression? The 62.5 looks like an outlier.