Lines of Best Fit Flashcards
All 6 cards in this deck
What is a line of best fit?
A single straight line drawn by eye that passes through the middle of the plotted points, with roughly as many points above it as below it.
What should you do with an outlier when drawing a line of best fit?
Ignore it — the line follows the trend of the other points.
True or false? A line of best fit must start at the origin.
False. It is drawn to fit the points, so it need not pass through the origin or through any particular point.
What are the steps to estimate a value from a scatter graph?
e.g. estimate the maths mark of a student who scored in science
- Draw the line of best fit
- Draw a line up from on the science axis to the line
- Read straight across to the maths axis — that reading is the estimated maths mark
What is interpolation on a scatter graph?
Using the line of best fit to estimate a value inside the range of the data plotted.
What must you comment about an estimate made from a value beyond the range of the plotted data (extrapolation)?
It may not be reliable, because the point is outside the range of the data and the trend may not continue.