Input your data into Microsoft® Excel® (data and years).
Create a scatter plot.
Insert a polynomial trendline with degree of 2. Make sure to show the equation and the R-square value. Also make sure you label each axis and give a title to your graph. Then repeat this process for a linear trendline in a new Microsoft® Excel® worksheet.
Answer the following questions in 175 to 260 words in the same Microsoft® Excel® worksheet as the graph:
- Which of the trendlines fits the data better? How can you tell?
- Compare and contrast the shape of the linear regression trendline with the shape of the quadratic.
- Which do you think will eventually grow faster? Thinking about the type of data you have, do you think your data will grow quickly over time?
- Which (lines or quadratics) has a minimum or maximum value? Thinking about the type of data you have, do you think your data has a minimum or maximum?