Total earthquakes worldwide from 2000-2008

I used data from this site. The correlation coefficient r= 0.835853812. The regression equation is y= 1223.845238x+22764.07143. The slope means that in every year from 2000-2008 the number of earthquakes goes up by 1223.85. The y-intercept means that in the year 2000 there were 22764.07 earthquakes. The data shows the rate that earthquakes are happening around the world. From the data, the number of earthquakes is increasing every year.

I think it is important to be able to analyze scatter plots and regression equations because it is a valuable skill. In most cases a scatterplot is the most convenient way to organize and represent data so in many different jobs you will have to be able to read the scatterplot and understand what it means.

Functions

Linear functions

Relationship between feet and yards.

Linear functions are used to graph things that have a constant rate of change. There are always 3 feet in 1 yard. The equation would be y=3x.

Exponential functions

Bacterial growth.

An exponential function is a function whose value is a constant raised to the power of the argument. If one bacterium divides once everyday then the equation would be y=x^however many days you want.

Absolute value

Force of gravity in comparison to distance from center of the Earth. Absolute value is the magnitude of something without regard to its sign. In this experiment you can't be a negative distance from the earth so all y values would be positive making the graph the characteristic 'V' shape.

I got a lot of my info from mathforum.org