Reference no: EM13787035

You must take the data from your problem and first decide the "best fit" for the data: linear, quadratic, or exponential and then proceed to graph the data, find a "regression" equation to fit the data, then answer questions predicting other values. The following table represents the median age at which men had their first marriage by years:

YEAR  MALE (MEDIAN AGE)

1890    26.1

1900    25.9

1910    25.1

1920    24.6

1930    24.3

1940    24.3

1950    22.8

1960    22.8

1970    23.2

1980    24.7

1990    26.1

1995    26.9

1998    26.7

By inspection of the data in the above table, the median age is generally decreasing from 1890 and 1950, and then increasing from 1950 to 1998. This pattern is not consistent with either a linear or an exponential distribution, leaving only quadratic from the three given options.

A new table, which uses the years since 1890 as the independent variable is shown below:

Years Since 1890        MALE (MEDIAN AGE)

0          26.1

10        25.9

20        25.1

30        24.6

40        24.3

50        24.3

60        22.8

70        22.8

80        23.2

90        24.7

100      26.1

105      26.9

108      26.7

A scatter plot of the data is shown below:

(a) use your equation to predict the median age for the year 1946.

(b) use your equation to predict the year when the median age is 30