Curve-fitting Project

Curve-fitting Project 

1. For this assignment you will implement a project involving curve-fitting and interpretation. You will compile data, fit the data to a linear model, assess the appropriateness of the model, and explore the predictive power of the models. You will use appropriate technology to perform the modeling tasks.

Linear Model

1. Read the Linear Model Instructions topic.

2. Read the Linear Model Example topic and check out the Technology Tips.

4. Create a main topic in this conference and post your Linear Model Topic and your Data, no later than the end of Week Four (September 15). Give your posting a descriptive title so that we immediately know a bit about your topic. Topics posted after September 15 will not get any feedback on the data.

5. Your completed work on the Linear Model is due in your WebTycho assignment folder by the end of Week 7,
October 6.

A Linear Model Example and Technology Tips are described in separate topics.  

2. Tasks for Linear Regression Model (LR)

(LR-1) Describe your topic, provide your data, and cite your source. Collect at least 8 data points.Label appropriately. (Post this information as a main topic here in the Project conference as well as in your completed project. Include a brief informative description in the title of your posting. Each student must use different data.)   
The idea with the conference posting is two-fold: (1) To share your interesting project idea with your classmates, and (2) To give me a chance to give you a brief thumbs-up or thumbs-down about your proposed topic and data. Sometimes students get off on the wrong foot or misunderstand the intent of the project, and your posting provides an opportunity for some feedback. Remark:
Students may choose similar topics, but must havedifferent data sets. For example, several students may be interested in a particular Olympic sport, and that is fine, but they must collect different data, perhaps from different events or different gender.

(LR-2) Plot the points (x, y) to obtain a scatterplot. Use an appropriate scale on the horizontal and vertical axes and be sure to label carefully. Visually judge whether the data points exhibit a relatively linear trend. (If so, proceed. If not, try a different topic or data set.) 

(LR-3) Find the line of best fit (regression line) and graph it on the scatterplot. State the equation of the line.  

(LR-4) State the slope of the line of best fit. Carefully interpret the meaning of the slope in a sentence or two.

(LR-5) Find and state the value of r2, the coefficient of determination, and r, the correlation coefficient. Discuss your findings in a few sentences. Is r positive or negative? Why? Is a line a good curve to fit to this data? Why or why not? Is the linear relationship very strong, moderately strong, weak, or nonexistent?  

(LR-6) Choose a value of interest and use the line of best fit to make an estimate or prediction. Show calculation work.  

(LR-7) Write a brief narrative of a paragraph or two. Summarize your findings and be sure to mention any aspect of the linear model project (topic, data, scatterplot, line, r, or estimate, etc.) that you found particularly important or interesting. 

 

You may submit all of your project in one document or a combination of documents, which may consist of word processing documents or spreadsheets or scanned handwritten work, provided it is clearly labeled where each task can be found. Be sure to include your name. Projects are graded on the basis of completeness, correctness, ease in locating all of the checklist items, and strength of the narrative portions.

3.   TECHNOLOGY TIPS

To complete the Linear Model project, you will need to use technology (or hand-drawing) to create a scatterplot, find the regression line, plot the regression line, and find r and r2.

Below are some options, together with some videos. Each video is limited to 5 minutes or less. It takes a bit of time for the video to initially download. When playing the video, if you want to slow it down to read the text, hit the pause icon. (If you run the mouse over the bottom of the video screen, the video controls will appear.) You may need to adjust the volume.  

The basic options are to:

    (1) Generate by hand and scan. 

    (2) Use Microsoft Excel.