[scarrington79]

In 1920, the record for a certain race was 46.4 sec. In 1970, it was 45.4 sec. Let R(t)= the record in the race and t= the number of years since 1920.

a) find a linear function that fits the data.
b) Use the function in (a) to predict the record in 2003, and 2006.
c) Find the year when the record will be 44.64.

round to the nearest hundredth for all 4 questions

Help can't figure this thing out!

[MathMadMan]

Hi there, that looks like an Algebra I problem. I'll help you, but you have to meet me halfway, OK?

Great! Here's what you know:

1) It's a linear equation R(t)
2) t is number of years since 1920, that's the date of the first record.

Linear equations look like y=mx+b, I'm sure you've seen that before. For this problem it looks like this:

R(t) = mt + b

The problem is for you to figure out m and b based on what you know. You have been given a pair of R and t values. The first is R(0) = 46.4. Plugging those values for R and t into R(t)=mt+b, what can you say about the value of b?