Fitting Line To Data

What’s the Point?

In the real world, data doesn’t all line up, but it’s still very useful to use equations to work with that data.

TL;DW

  • Even though real world data isn’t smooth. Spreadsheets can fit a trendline to scattered data and come up with an equation that can be used to better understand the data.
  • For a line, the equation looks something like:

    \mathbf{y}\ =\ \mathbf{.7}\ \ast\ \mathbf{x}\ +\ \mathbf{1.5}\

    <p”>This is a straight line with a slope of .7 and a Y Intercept (vertical offset) of 1.5

Where To:

What is Slope Velocity Y Intercept
Slope on Curves Curve Example Slope of Slope

The Worksheet Khan Academy
Khan has lots of examples!