The tutor focuses on the Staples BD-6120G, which has some convenient features.

Overlooking the Staples BD-6120G might be easy: I can’t recall any of my students using it. Yet, I picked one up from Staples’ abundant shelves; someone must use it.

As a scientific calculator, the BD-6120G is all my students would need; moreover, it has graphing capabilities. While perhaps not so powerful as the TI-83 family of graphers, the BD-6120G could probably get the user out of most high school jams.

Today I’m looking at how to do linear regression with the Staples BD-6120G. Specifically, suppose you want to fit a model equation of the form y=a+bx to the following data:

With the Staples BD-6120G, here’s how:

1. Turn the calculator on. Press the mode button, arrow over to reg, then press =, at which time lin will appear on the screen. Press = a second time to choose linear regression. Afterwards, reg will appear in the top-left corner.
2. From the table, enter the data pair (4.1, 2.3) as follows:
   4.1 shift hyp 2.3 M+
   (An unexpected graph might appear as you do this; just ignore it and continue:))
3. Repeat Step 2 for the next two data pairs in the table.
4. To get the equation of the form y=a+bx, you need the values of the a and b parameters. To find a, press shift 7 = (which yields, in this example, -1.279495773). To find b, press shift 8 = (which yields, in this example, 0.755881193).
5. It’s best not to forget to actually write the equation with the values for a and b substituted in. For this example the regression equation is as follows:

   y=-1.27950 + 0.75588x

Best wishes with this technique!

Source:

Staples BD-6120G Owner’s Manual.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.