The spending (in billions of dollars) by Medicaid, the national health-care plan for the poor, over the 5-year period from 1988 to 1992 is summarized in the following table. (Here, x = 0 represents the beginning of the year 1988.) Find an equation of the least-squares line for these data.Please round the coefficients in your equation to three decimal places.Use the result of to estimate Medicaid spending in Massachusetts for the year 2001, assuming the trend continued.

Question

The spending (in billions of dollars) by Medicaid, the national health-care plan for the poor, over the 5-year period from 1988 to 1992 is summarized in the following table.  (Here, x = 0 represents the beginning of the year 1988.) Find an equation of the least-squares line for these data.Please round the coefficients in your equation to three decimal places.Use the result of to estimate Medicaid spending in Massachusetts for the year 2001, assuming the trend continued.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Using a linear regression calculator, the equation of the least-squares line is y = 0.114x + 1.550. To estimate Medicaid spending in Massachusetts for the year 2001, we plug in x = 13 (since 2001 is 13 years after 1988) and get y = 0.114(13) + 1.550 = 3.032 billion (rounded to three decimal places). Therefore, the best choice is C.

The Spending (In Billions of Dollars) by Medicaid, the National