Question

the scatter plot and line of best fit below show the length of 11 people’s femur (the long leg bone in the thigh) and their height in centimeters. what is the meaning of the ( x )-value on the line when ( y = 160 )?

answer
the height of an actual person with a femur length of 42.6 centimeters is 160 centimeters.
an expected height of 160 centimeters when the femur has a length of 42.6 centimeters.
the height of an actual person with a femur length of 160 centimeters is 42.6 centimeters.
an expected height of 42.6 centimeters when the femur has a length of 160 centimeters.

Explanation:

In a scatter - plot with a line of best fit, the \(x\) - axis represents the femur length and the \(y\) - axis represents the height. When we consider a point \((x,y)\) on the line of best fit, \(x\) is the independent variable (femur length) and \(y\) is the dependent variable (height). When \(y = 160\) (height), we are using the line of best fit (a predictive model) to find the corresponding \(x\) - value. This \(x\) - value represents the predicted femur length for a person with a height of \(y = 160\) centimeters.

Answer:

An expected height of 160 centimeters when the femur has a length of 42.6 centimeters.