Introduction to Linear Regression Analysis, 5th Edition

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 REGRESSION AND MODEL BUILDING

Regression analysis is a statistical technique for investigating and modeling the relationship between variables. Applications of regression are numerous and occur in almost every field, including engineering, the physical and chemical sciences, economics, management, life and biological sciences, and the social sciences. In fact, regression analysis may be the most widely used statistical technique.

As an example of a problem in which regression analysis may be helpful, suppose that an industrial engineer employed by a soft drink beverage bottler is analyzing the product delivery and service operations for vending machines. He suspects that the time required by a route deliveryman to load and service a machine is related to the number of cases of product delivered. The engineer visits 25 randomly chosen retail outlets having vending machines, and the in-outlet delivery time (in minutes) and the volume of product delivered (in cases) are observed for each. The 25 observations are plotted in Figure 1.1a. This graph is called a scatter diagram. This display clearly suggests a relationship between delivery time and delivery volume; in fact, the impression is that the data points generally, but not exactly, fall along a straight line. Figure 1.1b illustrates this straight-line relationship.

If we let y represent delivery time and x represent delivery volume, then the equation of a straight line relating these two variables is ...