A manager at an ice cream store is trying to determine how many customers to expect on any given day. Overall business has been relatively steady over the past several years, but the customer count seems to have ups and downs. He collects data over 30 days and records the number of customers, the high temperature (degrees Fahrenheit), and whether the day fell on a weekend (1 equals weekend, 0 otherwise). A portion of the data is shown; the entire data set can be found on the text website, labeled Ice Cream.
|
Customer
|
Temperature
|
Weekend
|
|
376
|
75
|
0
|
|
433
|
78
|
0
|
|
.....
|
.....
|
.....
|
|
401
|
68
|
0
|
a. Estimate: Customers = β0 + β1 Temperature + β2 Weekend + ε.
b. How many customers should the manager expect on a Sunday with a forecasted high temperature of 80°?
c. Interpret the weekend coefficient. Is it significant at the 5% level? How might this affect the store's staffing needs?