Question

on a steep hill, the roseland hiking club tracked their elevation, in meters, as a function of the horizontal distance traveled, in meters. after the hike, they created a scatter plot and drew a line of best fit. the equation for the line of best fit is y = 0.25x - 8.5. in this equation, what does the y-intercept tell you? their elevation increased about 0.25 meters for every meter they traveled horizontally. the hike started at an elevation of about 8.5 meters. they descended about 8.5 meters during their hike. the hike started at an elevation of about -8.5 meters.

Explanation:

The line of best fit is in slope-intercept form \(y = mx + b\), where \(b\) is the y-intercept. Here, \(b = 8.5\). The y-intercept occurs when the horizontal distance \(x = 0\) (start of the hike), so it represents the initial elevation. The other options describe the slope (0.25) or incorrect interpretations of the intercept.

Answer:

The hike started at an elevation of about 8.5 meters.