Why should you draw a line of best fit when drawing a graph?

Answer 1

A best fit graph to some data is exactly that: it is a line which fits the data best according to some optimality criterion.

There is a always a trade off in fitting a line to data: one can change the number of degrees of freedom of the underlying equation, which affects how close the line can get to the data points. With more degrees of freedom, the line can more closely approximate the data.

This is not to say that more degrees of freedom are better: with too many degrees of freedom, one is merely fitting to the noise in the measurement of the data, and the line will predict subsequent data poorly, when both interpolating and extrapolating the existing data.

This is an example of Occam's Razor: one must pick the simplest model which adequately fits the data.

Answer 2

A graph presents data of some sort. In order to make sense of the data, it is useful to see if it forms some kind of comprehensible pattern. That can often be seen by drawing a line of best fit. If it is, for example, a straight line, then we see a direct relationship of two variables. If it is a curved line, the relationship is more complex.

Answer 3

When points are marked on a graph, a line is often drawn across the dots plotted. A line of best fit is a straight line that goes through as many of such points as possible.

Answer 4

a line drawn on a graph to reveal data points

Answer 5

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