Question

cindy played a word game with some friends. this table shows the number of letters she used and her word score for some of her turns. cindy also estimated a line of best fit.
word game
letters (x) 5 6 3 3 4 4 5 3
score (y) 14 18 10 6 7 12 15 8
the equation for the line of best fit is $y = 2.9x - 2.5$.
in this context, what is the meaning of 2.9?
each letter used is worth 2.9 points.
the minimum word score is around 2.9 points.
on average, each additional letter is worth 2.9 points.
on average, it takes 2.9 letters to earn an additional point.

Explanation:

The line of best fit is in the form \(y = mx + b\), where \(m\) is the slope. The slope represents the average change in \(y\) (score) per unit change in \(x\) (letters). Here, \(m = 2.9\) means for each additional letter used, the score increases by an average of 2.9 points. This matches the third option.

Answer:

On average, each additional letter is worth 2.9 points.