The tutor shows how to get a best-fit line using Excel or LibreOffice Calc.

Let’s imagine you want a best fit line of form y=mx + b for the following data:

With Excel or LibreOfficeCalc, you do exactly the same steps:

1. Enter the data in two columns. Let’s imagine the x data is in a1:a4, the y, b1:b4.
2. In a different cell, key in =slope(b1:b4,a1:a4). Note that the y range is entered first. The answer that appears is the slope of the line, or m. Hopefully, in this case, you get 1.15.
3. In another cell, key in =intercept(b1:b4,a1:a4). The answer returned is the y intercept, or b; in this case, it’s hopefully 2.9.
4. For this data, the best-fit line is y=1.15x + 2.9

HTH:)

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