Linear Regression Problems

1. As Earths population continues to grow, the solid waste generated by the population grows with it. Governments must plan for disposal and recycling of ever growing amounts of solid waste. Planners can use data from the past to predict future waste generation and plan for enough facilities for disposing of and recycling the waste. Given the following data on the waste generated in Florida from 19901994, how can we construct a function to predict the waste that was generated in the years 1995-1999? The scatter plot is shown in Figure 1.85.

a) b)

c) d)

Tons of Solid Waste Generated (in thousands) 1990 19,358 1991 19,484 1992 20,293 1993 21,499 1994 23,561 Make a scatterplot of the data, letting x represent the number of years since 1990. Use a graphing calculator to fit linear, quadratic, cubic, and power functions to the data. By comparing the values of R 2 , determine the function that best fits the data. Graph the function of best fit with the scatterplot of the data. With each function found in part (b), predict the average tons of waste in 2000 and 2005, and determine which function gives the most realistic predictions.

Year

2. The numbers of insured commercial banks y (in thousands) in the United

States for the years 1987 to 1996 are shown in the table. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). Year y 198 7 13.7 198 8 13.1 198 9 12.7 199 0 12.3 199 1 11.9 199 2 11.4 199 3 10.9 199 4 10.4 199 5 9.94

(Source:

199 6 9.53

Make a scatterplot of the data, letting x represent the number of years since 1987.
a) Use a graphing calculator to fit linear, quadratic, cubic, and power

functions to the data. By comparing the values of R 2 , determine the function that best fits the data. b) Graph the function of best fit with the scatterplot of the data. c) With each function found in part (b), predict the average number of insured commercial banks in 2000 and 2005, and determine which function gives the most realistic predictions. e) Plot the actual data and the model you selected on the same graph. How closely does the model represent the data?
3. U.S. Farms. As the number of farms has decreased in the United States,

the average size of the remaining farms has grown larger, as shown in the table below. Year 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1959 1969 1978 1987 1997 Average Acreage Per Farm 139 149 157 175 216 303 390 449 462 487

a) Make a scatterplot of the data, letting x represent the number of

years since 1900.

b) Use a graphing calculator to fit linear, quadratic, cubic, and power

functions to the data. By comparing the values of R 2 , determine the function that best fits the data. c) Graph the function of best fit with the scatterplot of the data. d) With each function found in part (b), predict the average acreage in 2000 and 2010 and determine which function gives the most realistic predictions.

4. Sports

The winning times (in minutes) in the womens 400-meter freestyle swimming event in the Olympics from 1936 to 1996 are given by the following ordered pairs. (1936,5.44) (1972, 4.32) (1948,5.30) (1976, 4.16) (1952,5.20) (1980, 4.15) (1956, 4.91) (1984, 4.12)

(1960, 4.84) (1988, 4.06) (1964, 4.72) (1992, 4.12) (1968, 4.53) (1996, 4.12)

a) Make a scatterplot of the data, letting x represent the number of

years since 1972. b) Use a graphing calculator to fit linear, quadratic, cubic, and power functions to the data. By comparing the values of R 2 , determine the function that best fits the data. c) Graph the function of best fit with the scatterplot of the data. d) Plot the actual data and the model you selected on the same graph. How closely does the model represent the data?