Question

Fit \(y=a+x\) to the data $$ \begin{array}{l|lll} \mathrm{x} & 0 & 1 & 2 \\ \hline \mathrm{y} & 1 & 3 & 4 \end{array} $$ by the method of least squares.

Short answer

The line that best fits the given data by the method of least squares is \(y = 1 + 1.67\).

Step-by-step solution

Calculate Summations

First, calculate the summations needed in the following calculations, which are \(\sum x\) and \(\sum y\). Here, \(\sum x = 0 + 1 + 2 = 3\) and \(\sum y = 1 + 3 + 4 = 8\)

Find the Mean Values

Find the mean values of x and y with the formulas \(\overline{x} =\frac{\sum x}{n}\) and \(\overline{y} =\frac{\sum y}{n}\). In this case, \(\overline{x} =\frac{3}{3} = 1\) and \(\overline{y} = \frac{8}{3} \approx 2.67\)

Determine the Value of 'a'

As the given line is \(y = a + x\), this can be re-written in slope-intercept form as \(y = mx + b\), with \(m=1\) and \(b=a\). By comparing to the general line equation, determine 'a' as the y-intercept which is the mean value of y minus the mean value of x multiplied by the slope. Thus, \(a =\overline{y} - m\cdot\overline{x}\), i.e., \(a = 2.67 - 1\cdot 1 = 1.67\)