Example 1
Andrew wants to estimate his gas mileage, or miles traveled per gallon of gas used. He records the number of gallons of gas he purchased and the total miles he traveled with that gas.
Create a scatter plot showing the relationship between gallons of gas and miles driven. Which function is a better estimate for the function that relates gallons to miles: or ? How is the equation related to his gas mileage?
- Plot each point on the coordinate plane.
- Graph the first function on the coordinate plane.
- Graph the second function on the same coordinate plane.
- Identify which function comes closer to the data values.
- Interpret the equation of the function in the context of the problem, using the units of the x- and y-axes.