Answer to Question #6220 in Algebra for mike

Question

In the early years of microcomputers,
school districts could not afford to buy a computer
for every student. As the price of computers decreased,
more and more school districts have been able to attain
this goal. The following table lists numbers of students
per computer during these early years.
(a) Make a scatterplot of the data. Would a straight line
model the data accurately? Explain.
(b) Discuss how well the formula
models these data, where S represents the students per
computer and y represents the year.
(c) In what year does the formula reveal that there were
about 17 students per computer?
S 5
125
1 1 0.7sy 2 1983d
, y $ 1983
Year 1983 1985 1987 1989
Students/Computer 125 50 32 22
Year 1991 1993 1995 1997
Students/Computer 18 14 10 6