A professor is attempting to identify trends among final exam scores. His class has a mixture of students, so he wonders if there is any relationship between age and final exam scores. One way for him to analyze the scores is by creating a diagram that relates the age of each student to the exam score received. In this section, we will examine one such diagram known as a scatter plot.

A scatter plot is a graph of plotted points that may show a relationship between two sets of data. If the relationship is from a linear model, or a model that is nearly linear, the professor can draw conclusions using his knowledge of linear functions. Below is a sample scatter plot.

A scatter plot of age and final exam score variables

Notice this scatter plot does not indicate a linear relationship. The points do not appear to follow a trend. In other words, there does not appear to be a relationship between the age of the student and the score on the final exam.

 Example: Using a Scatter Plot to Investigate Cricket Chirps

The table below shows the number of cricket chirps in 15 seconds, for several different air temperatures, in degrees Fahrenheit.^[1] Plot this data, and determine whether the data appears to be linearly related.

Chirps	44	35	20.4	33	31	35	18.5	37	26
Temperature	80.5	70.5	57	66	68	72	52	73.5	53

Solution

Plotting this data suggests that there may be a trend. We can see from the trend in the data that the number of chirps increases as the temperature increases. The trend appears to be roughly linear, though certainly not perfectly so.

Find the line of best fit

One way to approximate our linear function is to sketch the line that seems to best fit the data. Then we can extend the line until we can verify the y-intercept. We can approximate the slope of the line by extending it until we can estimate the [latex]\frac{\text{rise}}{\text{run}}[/latex].

Recognizing Interpolation or Extrapolation

While the data for most examples does not fall perfectly on the line, the equation is our best guess as to how the relationship will behave outside of the values for which we have data. We use a process known as interpolation when we predict a value inside the domain and range of the data. The process of extrapolation is used when we predict a value outside the domain and range of the data.

The graph below compares the two processes for the cricket-chirp data addressed in Example: Finding a Line of Best Fit. We can see that interpolation would occur if we used our model to predict temperature when the values for chirps are between 18.5 and 44. Extrapolation would occur if we used our model to predict temperature when the values for chirps are less than 18.5 or greater than 44.

There is a difference between making predictions inside the domain and range of values for which we have data and outside that domain and range. Predicting a value outside of the domain and range has its limitations. When our model no longer applies after a certain point, it is sometimes called model breakdown. For example, predicting a cost function for a period of two years may involve examining the data where the input is the time in years and the output is the cost. But if we try to extrapolate a cost when [latex]x=50[/latex], that is in 50 years, the model would not apply because we could not account for factors fifty years in the future.

Interpolation occurs within the domain and range of the provided data whereas extrapolation occurs outside.

Finding the Line of Best Fit Using a Graphing Utility

While eyeballing a line works reasonably well, there are statistical techniques for fitting a line to data that minimize the differences between the line and data values.^[2] One such technique is called least squares regression and can be computed by many graphing calculators, spreadsheet and statistical software. Least squares regression is also called linear regression, and we can use Desmos to perform linear regressions.

Distinguish Between Linear and Nonlinear Relations

As we saw in Example: Finding a Line of Best Fit with the cricket-chirp model, some data exhibit strong linear trends, but other data, like the final exam scores plotted by age, are clearly nonlinear. Most calculators and computer software can also provide us with the correlation coefficient, which is a measure of how closely the line fits the data. Many graphing calculators require the user to turn a “diagnostic on” selection to find the correlation coefficient, which mathematicians label as r. The correlation coefficient provides an easy way to get an idea of how close to a line the data falls.

We should compute the correlation coefficient only for data that follows a linear pattern or to determine the degree to which a data set is linear. If the data exhibits a nonlinear pattern, the correlation coefficient for a linear regression is meaningless. To get a sense for the relationship between the value of r and the graph of the data, the image below shows some large data sets with their correlation coefficients. Remember, for all plots, the horizontal axis shows the input and the vertical axis shows the output.

Plotted data and related correlation coefficients. (credit: “DenisBoigelot,” Wikimedia Commons)

Use a Linear Model to Make Predictions

Once we determine that a set of data is linear using the correlation coefficient, we can use the regression line to make predictions. As we learned previously, a regression line is a line that is closest to the data in the scatter plot, which means that only one such line is a best fit for the data.

Example: Using a Regression Line to Make Predictions

Gasoline consumption in the United States has been steadily increasing. Consumption data from 1994 to 2004 is shown in the table below.^[3] Determine whether the trend is linear, and if so, find a model for the data. Use the model to predict the consumption in 2008.Is this an interpolation or an extrapolation?

Year	’94	’95	’96	’97	’98	’99	’00	’01	’02	’03	’04
Consumption (billions of gallons)	113	116	118	119	123	125	126	128	131	133	136

Solution

We can introduce new input variable, t, representing years since 1994, this makes entering the data into Desmos easier.

Read the value for b, and the value for the slope, m, from Desmos to create the equation for the regression line:

[latex]C\left(t\right)=113.318+2.209t[/latex]

The correlation coefficient was calculated to be 0.997, suggesting a very strong increasing linear trend.

Using this to predict consumption in 2008, which is 14 years after 1994,  [latex]\left(t=14\right)[/latex],

[latex]\begin{array}{l}C\left(14\right)=113.318+2.209\left(14\right)\hfill \\ =144.244\hfill \end{array}[/latex]

The model predicts 144.244 billion gallons of gasoline consumption in 2008. This is an extrapolation because there is not a datapoint whose x1 value is 2008.
The scatter plot of the data, including the least squares regression line, is shown below in Desmos. Note how we changed the viewing window for the y-axis to 100 < y < 150.

https://www.desmos.com/calculator/lv27pmtdbh

FYI

Divers who want or need to descend to depths greater than 100 feet employ different techniques and equipment to help them safely navigate the depth. For example, different gas mixtures or rebreather equipment may be used.  Gas mixtures such as Oxygen, Helium, and Nitrogen can help to mitigate the narcotic effects of breathing gas at great depths.^[4]

Scuba diver using rebreather with open circuit bailout cylinders returning from a 600-foot (180 m) dive