Review on interpretations of slope and y

intercept of a linear line.

 Interpreting the slope of a linear fitted line
•The slope is interpreted in algebra as rise over run.
•If, for example, the slope is 2, you can write this as 2/1 and say that as you move
along the line, as the value of the X variable increases by 1, the value of
the Y variable increases by 2.

• In a fitted line context, the slope is the heart and soul of the equation because it tells
you how much you can expect Y to change as X increases.

•In general, the units for slope are the units of the Y variable per units of
the X variable. It’s a ratio of change in Y per change in X.
• Example a slope = –2.5. You can write this as –2.5/1 and say that y value is expected
to decrease by 2.5 unit when x value is increased by 1 unit.
 Interpreting the slope of a linear fitted line
•The slope is interpreted in algebra as rise over run.
•If, for example, the slope is 2, you can write this as 2/1 and say that as you move along the
line, as the value of the X variable increases by 1, the value of the Y variable increases by 2.

• In a fitted line context, the slope is the heart and soul of the equation because it tells you
how much you can expect Y to change as X increases.

•In general, the units for slope are the units of the Y variable per units of the X variable. It’s a
ratio of change in Y per change in X.
• Example a slope = –2.5. You can write this as –2.5/1 and say that y value is expected to
decrease by 2.5 unit when x value is increased by 1 unit.

Copyright © 2012, 2008, 2005 Pearson

Education, Inc.
 Interpreting the slope of a linear fitted line
•Always make sure to use proper units when interpreting slope.
•For example, if Y is an exam score and X = study time, and you find the slope of
the equation is 5, what does this mean?
•Including the units, you see you get an increase of 5 points (change in Y) for
every 1-hour increase in studying (change in X).
•If using a 1 in the denominator of slope is not super-meaningful to you, you
can multiply the top and bottom by any number (as long as it’s the same
number) and interpret it that way instead.

Interpreting the y intercept of Linear fitted Line

•The y-intercept is the place where the regression line y = mx + b crosses the y-axis
(where x = 0), and is denoted by b.
•Sometimes the y-intercept can be interpreted in a meaningful way, and sometimes
not.
 Discussion: Meaning of the slope and the y-
intercept of the linear fitted line.
Example 1

A study was done to investigate the relationship between the age in years of a young
person x and the time y in minutes at which the child can run on mile.  Data from
children between the ages of 8 and 15 was collected.  The equation of the regression
line was found to be y  =  17 - 0.5x
State what the slope and y-intercept are and interpret them if relevant.  If not relevant,
explain why.
Solution

•The slope is -0.5.  What this mean is that for every increase of 1 in x there is a
decrease of 0.5 in y. 
• In the context of the question, we can say that on average, as a child ages one year
their time to run a mile goes down by 30 seconds (half a minute).
•The y-intercept is 17, which means that when x is 0, y is 17.  For this question, the y-
intercept is not relevant, since 0 year old children cannot run one mile.
 Discussion: Meaning of the slope and the y-
intercept of the linear fitted line.
Example 2

A biologist wants to study the relationship between the number of trees x per acre
and the number of birds y per acre.  She came up with the equation of the regression
line: y  =  5 + 4.2x
State what the slope and y-intercept are and interpret them if relevant.  If not
relevant, explain why.

Solution

•The slope is 4.2.  This means that for every additional tree, you can expect an
average of 4.2 additional birds per acre. 
•The y-intercept 5 has meaning in this case.  We can say that the average number
of birds per acre in an area with no trees is 5.