Thinking With Mathematical Models Reflection 2

1. a) When does it make sense to choose a linear function to model a set of data?

It makes sense to choose a linear function to model a set of data when the data points on the scatter plots look linear, or you can make a line of best fit.

b) What steps would you follow to find a line of best fit? Include how you would calculate the residuals and what those results might tell you.

I would look at the points of the data and try to draw different lines to see which one fits all the points the best. I would also calculate the residuals (actual-predicted) for each line and see which one is most accurate. If the residual result is a large amount, then I know that my line of best fit is not accurate. The lower the residual is, the more accurate the trend line is.