Question

a biologist is studying the relationship between the mass of brains found in mammals taken from a forest and the body mass of the mammals. a sample of 14 such mammals was taken. the equation of the least - squares line for the relationship between brain mass and body mass is computed as body mass = 561.8 ( brain mass ) - 16485. based on the residual plot, is a linear model appropriate for describing the relationship between brain mass and body mass? a linear model is not appropriate, because the residuals are not centered about zero. a linear model is appropriate, because there is a clear pattern shown in the residual plot. a linear model is not appropriate, because there is a clear pattern shown in the residual plot. a linear model is appropriate, because many of the residuals are close to zero for all brain weights.

Explanation:

A linear model is appropriate when the residual plot has no clear pattern. If there is a clear pattern in the residual plot, it indicates that the linear model does not capture the relationship well. In this case, the presence of a clear pattern in the residual plot means a linear model is not appropriate.

Answer:

A linear model is not appropriate, because there is a clear pattern shown in the residual plot.