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Concept

Line of Best Fit

A line of best fit, also known as a regression line, is a line of fit that estimates the relationship between the values of a data set. The equation of the line of best fit has been determined using a strict mathematical method.
Points on a Scatter Plot and Line of Best Fit with an equation of y=1.55x+1.14

One commonly used method to determine a line of best fit is the method of least squares. The methods used to find the line of best fit are usually hard to do by hand. Therefore, a line of best fit can be found by performing a linear regression on a graphing calculator. As an example, consider the data set graphed above.

In reference to the graph, the data points appear to closely follow the line Consequently, even if the data points may not precisely align with any specific line, a linear model can be considered to adequately describe the data.

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