Credit card debt has risen steadily over the years. The table below gives the average U.S. credit card debt (in dollars) per household. Years are represented as the number of years since 1900. ( The table below includes all credit cards and U.S. households with at least one credit card.)
(a) Plot the data. Does the graph show a linear pattern?
(b) Find the equation of the least squares line and graph it on the same axes. (You can use
Excel). Does the line appear to be a good fit?
(c) If this trend continues, when will household debt reach $10,000?
Year (x) 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02
Debt (y) 5832 6487 6900 7188 7564 8123 8367 8562
