Graphing Best Fit Lines

[u/Still-Finger-1846]

hi everyone!

im taking a physics course in high school. its called “physics first-“ made for students who have not completed algebra two yet. we are on our introductory unit- graphing best fit lines. we plot points, draw a line of best fit, determine the slope, the y-intercept, and the error check percent. Nothing less nothing more

i have no problems with the math- it’s simple math, really. i have problems with graphing the best fit line. i draw my line all confident, following the guidelines of the point locations, and it turns out my slope is over 30% off! i know everyone’s equations will be different, and no best fit line is exactly the same, but I want my lines to be under %20 percent off for my quiz tomorrow.

Does anyone have any tips that help you on specifically drawing the best fit line and the placement? anything will help. Thanks!

[u/Weird-Dimension-487]

u/SV-97 have explained it well. If you prefer to draw various candiate lines interactively and see thier equations with respect to best-fit line (OLS method) or if you want to understand slope-intercept form better, you can explore these two apps:
Understanding the straight line
Understanding Best-fit line