AP Statistics

3.2: The Least-Squares Regression Line

(Part I)

1. Good runners take more steps per second as they speed up. Here are their average numbers of steps per
second for a group of top female runners at different speeds. The speeds are in feet per second.

Speed (ft/s) 15.86 16.88 17.50 18.62 19.97 21.06 22.11

Steps per second 3.05 3.12 3.17 3.25 3.36 3.46 3.55
a) You want to predict steps per second from running speed. Which is the explanatory variable? Make a
scatterplot on your calculator of the data with this goal in mind.
b) What is the correlation coefficient? Interpret in terms of the problem.
c) Calculate and interpret the slope.
d) Calculate and interpret the y-intercept.
e) Write the equation of the regression line. Draw the regression line on your scatterplot.
f) If you need to cover 20 ft/s to win a race, predict the steps per second you’ll need to maintain.

2. According to the article “First-Year Academic Success...”(1999) there is a mild correlation (r =.55) between
high school GPA and college GPA. The high school GPA’s have a mean of 3.7 and standard deviation of
0.47. The college GPA’s have a mean of 2.86 with standard deviation of 0.85.
a) What is the explanatory variable?
b) What is the slope of the LSRL of college GPA on high school GPA? Intercept? Interpret these in
context of the problem.
c) Billy Bob’s high school GPA is 3.2, what could we expect of him in college?

3. The paper “A Cross-National Relationship between Sugar Consumption and Major Depression?”
(Depression and Anxiety [2002]) concluded that there was a strong correlation ( ) between refined
sugar consumption (calories per person per day) and annual rate of major depression (cases per 100 people)
based on data from 6 countries. The average sugar consumption was 340.83 calories per person per day
with a standard deviation of 110.56 calories while the mean annual rate of depression was 4.26 cases with a
standard deviation of 1.338 cases.
a) What is the slope of the regression line of annual rate of depression based on sugar consumption? What
is the y-intercept? Interpret the two in context of the problem.
b) Use the regression line to predict the depression rate of the United States if the average person consumes
300 calories per person per day.
c) New Zealand’s depression rate is 5.7 annual cases per 100 people. Use the model to find the possible
sugar consumption. Does the regression line allow us to make this prediction? Explain.
4. How quickly can athletes return to their sport following injuries requiring surgery? The paper
“Arthroscopic Distal Clavicle Resection for Isolated Atraumatic Osteolysis in Weight Lifters” (American
Journal of Sports Medicine, 1998) discovered there was a moderate positive (r = .55) linear relationship
between a lifters age and the number of days after arthroscopic shoulder surgery before being able to return
to their sport between 10 weight lifters. The average age of the weight lifters 30.4 with standard deviation
of 2.875 years. The average number of days before being able to return to their sport was 3.2 days with a
standard deviation of 1.398 days.
a. Determine the line to predict the number of days based on the age of the weight lifter.
b. Determine the coefficient of determination and interpret in terms of the problem.
c. Given the spread of the lifters was from 26 to 34 years old, predict the number of days for a 28 year
old lifter. Do you feel this prediction is accurate? Explain.