Now, let's begin our graphing discussion:

1. Consult an almanac, newspaper, magazine, or the Internet tofind data that appear to lie approximately on or near astraight line.A few of the many free sources of data that might be appropriate to use are:

http://data.worldbank.org/(Links to an external site.)

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http://www.statcrunch.com/5.0/shareddata.php?keywords=DATA(Links to an external site.)

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http://datacatalogs.org/(Links to an external site.)

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http://data.gc.ca/eng(Links to an external site.)

2. show a scatterplot and a line fitting the data in one of two ways:

a. activity by hand, show scatterplot by plotting the (x, y) data in a Cartesian (rectangular) coordinate system. Then, draw a line that approximately fits the data in the scatterplot, and then write its equation as a function in slope-intercept form. An easier way, and one that produces better looking results, is to find the equation of the line for your data using this free, online linear regression calculator:http://www.alcula.com/calculators/statistics/linear-regression/(Links to an external site.)

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b.To use the regression calculator:

Enter your data, but without parentheses (), in the empty data field at:http://www.alcula.com/calculators/statistics/linear-regression/(Links to an external site.)

. For example, for my first point, I would type 1,5notthe usual ordered pair format of (1, 5).

When all of your data points are entered, click on the "Submit Data" button. The line of best fity= mx+ b for your data will be displayed, as will a figure showing ascatterplotof your data and the graph of yourline of best fit.

Right-click on the displayed figure of the scatterplot/graph and save it to your computer. Then, load it into the discussion box when you make your post. To do that, click on the image button in the palette of the discussion text-editor window. In that menu, you load the figure from your computer into your post.

3. Also include a link to your data, along with an explanation of what the x and y axes represent in your graph.