Unit 6, Lesson 8
Analyzing Bivariate Data
Grade 8
8.1
Warm-up
A researcher found an association between a dog’s stride length and its speed: the longer a dog’s steps, the faster it goes. The predicted speed in meters per second, , as a function of step length in meters, , is
What does the rate of change of the function tell you about the association between stride length and speed?
8.2
Activity
8.3
Activity
Student Lesson Summary
People often collect data in two variables to investigate possible associations between two numerical variables and use the connections that they find to predict more values of the variables.
Data analysis usually follows these steps:
- Collect data
- Organize and represent the data, then look for an association
- Identify any outliers and try to explain why these data points are exceptions to the trend that describes the association
- Find a function that fits the data well
Although computational systems can help with data analysis by graphing the data, finding a function that might fit the data, and using that function to make predictions, it is important to understand the process and think about what is happening. A computational system may find a function that does not make sense or use a line when the situation suggests that a different model would be more appropriate.
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