Lab 3
Math 115
Rules: You may work individually or in groups of 2-3 people total. If working in a group, only one report
should be submitted. You may use Excel to help with calculations, but all Excel work must be turned in
on Moodle. Be sure to show your work. Formulas in Excel should be present in the submitted file. Be
sure to show your work. You will find the rubric and objectives for the lab on Moodle. One component
of the grading will be the neatness and professionalism of your lab. It should look like a report that you
would give a boss at your job.
***Lab Submission Format: Your final submission for your lab should be a printed word document that
contains all of your answers including a copy of all scatter plots and other answers from Excel. The
easiest way to achieve this is to create a word document with all of your answers and copy the scatter
plots and other answers from Excel into the word document. All Excel files showing your work should
still be submitted electronically on Moodle, but should not be printed. See Moodle under the Lab 2
folder for an example of this format. Only answers submitted in the proper format will be graded.
Round all correlation coefficients to 5 decimal places. For all other calculations round to at least 3
decimal places. Any Excel generated equations for the regression lines do not need to be rounded.
2 separate groups cannot share work. Each group should do their own work, but can seek help from the
instructor or TA. Help from other students should be minimal. All work submitted by a group must be
work that was completed by someone in the group. Any help should be acknowledged in the report. All
academic dishonesty and plagiarism rules from the syllabus must be followed or it will result in a grade
of zero for the project.
Groups can bring their lab to the instructor during office hours or the TA during study sessions for a pre-
grading session. The group should bring a draft of their report (which may be incomplete) to the
session. During the session, the instructor/TA will look over the lab and provide feedback about how the
group can improve their report.
Objective for the Lab:
Given the average annual OPEC crude oil prices since 1960, determine the type of correlation (linear,
exponential, logarithmic, or power) for the crude oil prices.
Directions:
1. Download the Excel file named “OPEC Prices” that is linked on Moodle under the lab file.
2. Identify which is the independent and dependent variable. Explain your reasoning.
3. Define the variables you will be using. ****Because of the domain restrictions of log functions,
the independent variable cannot be 0 so define your independent variable so that 1960 has a
value of 1 or 5 (or something other than 0).
4. Draw the associated scatterplot using Excel.
5. Describe what the scatter plot shows about the crude oil prices since 1960. (Your description
should be detailed enough that someone that has never seen the graph or the dataset could
sketch a fairly accurate graph.)
6. Without doing any calculations or putting any trendlines onto the graph, predict which type of
function (linear, exponential, logarithmic, or power) will be the best fit for the data set based
only on the visual shape of the scatter plot. Explain your decision.
Linear
7. Find the regression line that best fits the data. Discuss how good the fit is for the data visually.
8. Find the equation for the regression line.
9. What is the practical significance of the slope of the line? What is the practical significance of
the vertical intercept of your line?
10. Find the sum of squares for the linear equation.
11. Find the correlation coefficient for the data set.
Exponential
12. Find the exponential curve that is a good fit to the data. Discuss how good the fit is for the data
visually.
13. Find the equation for the exponential curve.
14. Find the sum of squares for the exponential equation.
15. Find the exponential correlation coefficient for the linearized data set.
Logarithmic
16. Find the logarithmic curve that is a good fit to the data. Discuss how good the fit is for the data
visually.
17. Find the equation for the logarithmic curve.
18. Find the sum of squares for the logarithmic equation.
19. Find the logarithmic correlation coefficient for the linearized data set.
Power
20. Find the curve for a power function that is a good fit to the data. Discuss how good the fit is for
the data visually.
21. Find the equation for the power function curve.
22. Find the sum of squares for the power function.
23. Find the power function correlation coefficient for the linearized data set.
Analysis
24. Compare all of the sum of squares. What do they tell you about the data set?
25. Compare all of the correlation coefficients. What do they tell you about the data set?
26. Decide which of the functions is the best fit overall to the data. Discuss the criteria you used to
make this judgment.
27. Using the function you picked in number 26, predict what the average crude oil price should be
in 2026 according to the equation. Discuss how accurate you feel this prediction is.
28. Using the function you picked in number 26, write a predictive question that could be answered
using the function’s equation. Then use the equation to answer your question.
Instructions for Turning in the Lab:
• All Excel work needs to be submitted on Moodle by the due date. You do not have to print Excel
work.
• The Word Document with all of your answers should be printed and turned in during class on
the due date.
• All Excel work should be submitted as an Excel spreadsheet. It should show your "work". (When
cells are clicked on, the formula bar should show the formula used to calculate the answer.)
If any of the above instructions are not followed, points will be deducted from your lab grade.
