Question

A teacher collects data on the number of hours, s, his students spend studying and the number of hours, t, they spend watching TV each day. He finds that there is a negative linear association between s and t that is best modeled by the equation s=−0.5t+3.6 .
What is the meaning of 3.6 in this equation?

The model suggests that students study about 3.6 hours each day.

According to the model, for each additional hour spent watching TV, a student will spend about 3.6 fewer hours studying.

According to the model, a student who does not watch TV studies about 3.6 hours each day.

The model predicts that students watch about 3.6 hours of TV each day.

Answer 1

If you would like to know the meaning of 3.6 in the following equation, you can find this using the following steps:

s = -0.5 * t + 3.6
s ... the number of hours students are studying
t ... the number of hours students are watching TV

The meaning of 3.6 in the equation above is:
According to the model, a student who does not watch TV studies about 3.6 hours each day.
s = -0.5 * t + 3.6
t = 0 (not watching TV)
s = -0.5 * 0 + 3.6 = 0 + 3.6 = 3.6 hours of studying each day

The correct result would be: According to the model, a student who does not watch TV studies about 3.6 hours each day.