Trend Lines (Line of Best Fit)

Front

What is a trend line?

Back

A trend line is a straight line that best represents the data on a scatter plot, showing the general direction of the data points.

Front

What does a linear relationship between x and y mean?

Back

A linear relationship means that as one variable increases or decreases, the other variable does so in a consistent manner, forming a straight line when graphed.

Front

How do you determine the line of best fit?

Back

The line of best fit is determined by minimizing the distance between the line and all the data points, often using methods like least squares.

Front

What is the equation of a line in slope-intercept form?

Back

The equation of a line in slope-intercept form is y = mx + b, where m is the slope and b is the y-intercept.

Front

What does the slope of a line represent?

Back

The slope of a line represents the rate of change of y with respect to x; it indicates how much y changes for a unit change in x.

Front

What is the y-intercept of a line?

Back

The y-intercept is the point where the line crosses the y-axis, represented by the value of y when x is 0.

Front

What does it mean if a trend line has a positive slope?

Back

A positive slope indicates that as x increases, y also increases, showing a direct relationship between the two variables.

Front

What does it mean if a trend line has a negative slope?

Back

A negative slope indicates that as x increases, y decreases, showing an inverse relationship between the two variables.

Front

How can you tell if a line is a good line of best fit?

Back

A good line of best fit will have most data points close to the line, indicating that it accurately represents the trend in the data.

Front

What is a scatter plot?

Back

A scatter plot is a graph that displays values for two variables using dots, showing how much one variable is affected by another.