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MB1 Bicycle Copyright Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. 1 of 1
Algebra 2 Internet Connect Activity
MB1 Bicycle Investigations
Scroll down about halfway until you find a table labeled Calculate Minimum
Stopping Distance of a Bicyclist. There are several boxes to fill in. First, you will
investigate how velocity affects the stopping distance. To eliminate the effect of the
other variables, under Surface click on Dry concrete; under Adhesion
coefficient, enter 1; and under Rolling coefficient, enter 0. Now any
changes in the stopping distance will be a result of changes in the velocity only.
1. Use the values for velocity that are listed in the table. Enter the numbers, one at a
time, in the box marked Velocity and record the number given in feet for Your
stopping distance is.
When you have collected all of the data, make a scatter plot on a graphics
calculator. Record your information in the table below.
Velocity (mph) 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Stopping distance (ft) 13.11
2. Describe the correlation.

3. Find and graph an equation for the least-squares line. Round to three decimal
places.

4. What is the value of the correlation coefficient, r? Round to three decimal places.
Classify the correlation as strong, weak, or no correlation.

Now graph the following equation on the same system as your data points and linear
regression line: y = 0.033x
2
0.002. This is called a quadratic regression equation.
5. Is this curve a better fit than the least-squares line?

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6. Calculate the stopping distance for 100 mph using the linear regression equation.
Then calculate the stopping distance for 100 mph using the quadratic regression
equation.

7. Now use the utility on the Web page to calculate the stopping distance for 100
mph. Which of the two regression equations is closer?

Next, keep the velocity fixed and change the values for the adhesion coefficient, an
indication of how well the tires grip the road surface. As the adhesion coefficient
increases, the stopping distance should decrease. Set Velocity equal to 30, and
make sure that the other variables are set as before, withSurface set to Dry
concrete and Rolling coefficient set to 0. Now any changes in the stopping
distance will be as a result of changes in the adhesion coefficient only.
8. Record your results in the table.
Adhesion coefficient 0.70 0.75 0.80 0.85 0.90 0.95 1.00
Stopping distance (ft) 42.14
When you have collected all of the data, make a scatter plot on a graphics calculator.
9. Describe the correlation.

10. Find and graph an equation for the linear regression, or least-squares, line. Round
to three decimal places.

11. What is the value of the correlation coefficient, r? Round to three decimal places.
Classify the correlation as strong, weak, or no correlation.

Now graph the following equation on the same system as your data points and linear
regression line:

y = 49.429x
2
125.871x +105.983. Again, this is the quadratic
regression equation. For this regression equation, r = 0.999.
12. Is this curve a better fit than the least-squares line?

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13. Determine the stopping distance with an adhesion coefficient of 0.50 using the
linear regression equation and then using the quadratic regression equation.

14. Determine the stopping distance with an adhesion coefficient of 0.50 using the
utility on the Web site. Which regression equation is closer to the computers
number?

In each of these examples, the linear regression line gave excellent approximations for
the values on our graphs. However, the quadratic regression equations were not only
better for our dataas indicated by the correlation coefficientsbut gave better
predictions for values outside of our data set.