Question

ashley has a part - time job at an ice skating rink selling hot cocoa. she decided to plot the number of hot cocoas she sold relative to the days high temperature and then draw the line of best fit. what does the lines y - intercept represent?
answer
the actual number of hot cocoas sold when the temperature is ( 0^{circ}f ).
a prediction of the number of hot cocoas sold when the temperature is ( 0^{circ}f ).
the actual temperature when 0 hot cocoas are sold.
a prediction of the temperature when 0 hot cocoas are sold.

Explanation:

The line of best fit is a regression line used for prediction. The y - intercept of a regression line \(y = mx + b\) (where \(x\) is the independent variable, here temperature, and \(y\) is the dependent variable, here number of hot - cocoas sold) is the value of \(y\) when \(x = 0\). Since the data is a scatter plot with a line of best fit (not passing through all data points, so it's a prediction, not an actual data - point value), when \(x=0\) (temperature \(=0^{\circ}F\)), \(y\) (number of hot - cocoas sold) is predicted by the line of best fit.

Answer:

A prediction of the number of hot cocoas sold when the temperature is \(0^{\circ}F\).