Brent is trying to figure out the relationship between the number of times his friends post on social media and their grade point averages. He records the collected data on a scatter plot. Which of the linear functions best models the line of best fit? What does the slope in the equation represent?
a
y = 0.05x - 4; the amount of increase in the GPA for each post
b
y = -0.004x + 4; the amount of decrease in the GPA for each post
c
y = 0.004x - 4; the average number of posts per friend
d
y = -0.5x - 4; the amount of decrease in the GPA for each post
It is impossible to determine which linear function best models the line of best fit without seeing the actual scatter plot and conducting a regression analysis. However, based on the given options, the closest one would be option A: y = 0.05x - 4.
In this equation, the slope (0.05) represents the amount of increase in the GPA for each additional post on social media. However, it is important to note that correlation does not necessarily imply causation and there may be other factors affecting both social media activity and GPA.