The State Department of Taxation wishes to investigate the effect of experience, x, on the amount of time, y, required to fill out Form ST 1040AVG, the state income-averaging form. In order to do this, nine people whose financial status makes income averaging advantageous are chosen at random. Each is asked to fill out the form and report (1) the time y (in hours) required to complete the form and (2) the number of times x (including this one) that he or she has filled out this form.  The following data are obtained:

       Completion time,  8.0    4.7    3.7    2.8    8.9    5.8    2.0    1.9    3.3

          y (in hours)

       Experience, x          1       8       4     16       1       2     12       5       3

       A model of these data is shown below:

                             y = β_o + β₁ (1/x) + €     

     a) Plot y versus x, with y being the vertical axis.

b) Plot y versus 1/x, with y being the vertical axis. Does this plot support the given simple linear regression model for y?  If your answer is yes, what is the dependent variable and what is the independent variable?