A Good Enough Fit?
Resources for this lesson:
> Glossary 
> Calculator Resources
> Teacher Resources: Instructional Notes
Science Fair Project
Let’s apply what you have learned to another situation:
Andrew’s cousin Marissa is working on a science fair project. She is trying to determine if liquid drinks (water, coffee, milk, etc.,) heat at the same rate when heated on low on a stovetop. For the water sample, she gathered the following data:
Time (in minutes) |
Temperature (in degrees Celsius) |
|---|---|
0 |
78 |
1 |
83 |
2 |
87 |
3 |
99.4 |
4 |
111.2 |
5 |
118.4 |
6 |
129.2 |
7 |
145.4 |
8 |
160.2 |
9 |
180.8 |
10 |
200.4 |
Marissa looks over the data and is upset. She shows Andrew the data she collected.
Marissa: What did I do wrong? I thought I was careful with my measurements, but the data doesn't look linear.
Andrew: That's okay. Not all data will be represented in a linear model. But before you look at other models, let's make sure that a linear model is not a good fit.
