Question

irma is an arborist, or a person who specializes in caring for trees. this scatter plot shows the ages and heights of the maple trees at the nursery where she works. it also shows the line of best fit. the equation for the line of best fit is y = 1.25x + 0.2. according to the equation, which of these statements is true? maple trees grow about 1.25 feet per year. maple trees grow about 0.2 feet per year.

Explanation:

Step1: Recall slope - intercept form

The equation of a line is $y = mx + b$, where $m$ is the slope and $b$ is the y - intercept. In the given equation $y = 1.25x+0.2$, $m = 1.25$ and $b = 0.2$.

Step2: Interpret the slope

In the context of the problem, $x$ represents the age of the maple tree (in years) and $y$ represents the height of the maple tree (in feet). The slope $m = 1.25$ means that for every 1 - unit increase in $x$ (1 - year increase in age), $y$ (height) increases by 1.25 units (1.25 feet).

Answer:

Maple trees grow about 1.25 feet per year.