Here’s the Quickest Way to Draw the Line of Best Fit

Get the free Line of Best Fit worksheet pdf and other resources for teaching & understanding solving Line of Best Fit

An Explanation of How to Draw a Line of Best Fit

The Line of Best Fit is a line drawn onto the graph of a set of data. The Line of Best Fit Definition is a linear line drawn on the graph as close to all the points as possible. The Line of Best Fit may cross all the points, some points, or no points. Ideally, you would like to have half of the points on one side of the Line of Best Fit and half of the points on the other side. You can find the Line of Best Fit Equation by looking at its graph and writing the equation in Slope-Intercept Form. The easiest way to do this is to find the y-intercept of the Line of Best Fit and then finding its slope.

Common Core Standard: 8.SP.3

Related Topics: Scatter Plots

Return To: Home, 8th Grade

 

Line of Best Fit

Breaking Down the Line of Best Fit Definition

The Line of Best Fit Equation is a line drawn onto the diagram of a lot of information. The Line of Best Fit is a straight line drawn on the chart as near every one of the coordinates as could reasonably be expected. The Line of Best Fit may cross every one of the coordinates, a few, or none of the coordinates. In a perfect world, you might want to have half of the coordinates on one side of the Line of Best Fit and half of the coordinates on the opposite side. You can discover the equation of a Line of Best Fit by seeing its chart and composing the equation in Slope-Intercept Form. The most straightforward approach to do this is to discover the y-intercept of the Line of Best Fit and afterward discovering its slope. This is the easiest way to answer how to find line of best fit.

 

Line of Best Fit Solution

5 Steps for Finding the Line of Best Fit Equation

Steps for solving Line of Best Fit example above:

  1. Draw the Line of Best Fit on the Scatter Plot.
  2. When drawing the Line of Best Fit make sure it is as close to all of the points as possible.
  3. After the line is drawn you need to write the equation of the line in Slope-Intercept Form.
  4. Find the slope and plug it in for m.
  5. Find the y-intercept and plug it in for b.

 

How to draw a Trend Line Practice Problems

/5

Line of Best Fit Quiz

Click Start to begin the practice quiz!

1 / 5

Find the slope for the Line of Best Fit.

Screen Shot 2023 01 02 at 3.47.26 PM

2 / 5

Find the Y-Intercept of the Line of Best fit.

Screen Shot 2023 01 02 at 3.47.26 PM

3 / 5

Find the y-intercept of the Line of Best Fit.

Screen Shot 2023 01 02 at 3.47.30 PM

4 / 5

Write the equation of the Line of Best Fit

Screen Shot 2023 01 02 at 3.47.26 PM

5 / 5

Write the equation of the Line of Best Fit.

Screen Shot 2023 01 02 at 3.47.30 PM

Your score is

0%

 

Drawing a Line of Best Fit Video Explanation

Watch our free video on how to find the Line of Best Fit Equation. This video shows how to solve problems that are on our free Line of Best Fit worksheet answer key that you can get by submitting your email above. The video also explains the Line of Best Fit Definition in detail.

Watch the free Line of Best Fit video on YouTube here: Line of Best Fit

Video Transcript:

In this video we’re going to show you how to draw line of best fit by working on some of our practice problems from our line of best fit practice worksheet.

Let’s jump right in looking at number one on the writing equations for line of best fit worksheet. Our directions say write the equation of the lines of best fit in slope intercept form for each scatter plot. In order to do this the first thing we need to understand is that we’re talking about slope intercept form and our lines of best fit has to be written in that form. Slope intercept form is equal to y equals MX plus B. Typically this is the most common way you will see linear equations written. In the case of slope intercept form M is equal to the slope and B is equal to the y-intercept or where it crosses the y axis. If we look at number one, number one has a scatter plot drawn and it also has a lines of best fit already drawn through the scatter plot. If you look the easiest thing to identify is the y intercept that’s because all you have to do is see where the lines crosses the y axis, this vertical line here of course is the y axis and our lines of best fit crosses the y axis right there which is at 8.

We already know our y intercept which is 8, the next thing we have to find is our slope. Slope is equal to the rise divided by the run, so in order to find the rise divided by the run we have to find two points that are exactly on the line that intersect the grid perfectly. If we look we already have our first point which is our y intercept, so it’s already there. Then if you look really closely at our line you will see that you can pick points that cross the grid perfectly or where our line intersects the grid of the actual graph, so all these points actually intersect the line and the grid so right here. Then the next thing you need to do is you need to find the rise and the run so what we’re going to do is we’re going to go from one point to the next. So we’re just going to draw all lines and we’ll just do a couple there. What we do is we count how much we rise or drop and how much we go over. If we go down to so this is negative two because we’re going down two and if you look at each step each step is exactly the same down to so this negative two or this up-and-down motion is our rise. We know a rise is negative two then we have to find the run or how much we go over by. In case of this example we go over one here and we go over one here then we go over one here so a run is going to be one, and then if you simplify this negative 2 divided by 1 is just negative 2. So our slope is negative 2.

Then the last step is that you have to take each part which is slope and y-intercept and you have to substitute it back into slope intercept form. We know that our slope is negative 2 so we will substitute in negative 2 for M and then we know that y intercept is 8 so we will substitute an 8 for the y intercept. So our equation in slope intercept form for this lines of best fit is y equals negative 2x plus 8. These are just a couple example problems from the line of best fit practice worksheet that you can download above.

download the

Line of Best Fit

worksheet

Free Line of Best Fit Worksheet

 Enter your email to download the free Lines of Best Fit worksheet

Free math worksheets
Practice makes Perfect.

We have hundreds of math worksheets for you to master.

Get Started Now

 

Share This Page

Mathcation Email Newsletter
Straight to your inbox

Get the best educational and learning resources delivered.

Join thousands of other educational experts and get the latest education tips and tactics right in your inbox.