Problem:
With computer security always a hot-button issue, demand is growing for technology that authenticates and authorizes computer users. The following table gives the authentication software sales (in billions of dollars), including projections, from 1999 through 2004.
Year x 0 1 2 3 4 5
Sales y 2.4 2.9 3.7 4.5 5.2 6.1
(Here, x = 0 represents 1999)
Find an equation of the least-squares line for these data. Please round the coefficients in your equation to three decimal points. Use the result to estimate the sales for 2009, assuming the projection is accurate.
a. y = 0.749x + 2.262; $9.752 billion
b. y = 0.759x + 2.273; $9.863 billion
c. y = 0.759x + 2.273; $9.826 billion
d. y = 0.749x + 2.262; $9.775 billion
Additional Information:
This question is basically from Mathematics and it is about finding an equation of the least squares for the data.