Radiosonde Air Pressure Problem: Meteorologists release weather balloons called

Chapter 8, Problem 1

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Radiosonde Air Pressure Problem: Meteorologists release weather balloons called radiosondes each day to measure data about the atmosphere at various altitudes. Figure 8-4f and the table show altitude in meters, pressure in millibars, and temperature in degrees Celsius measured in December 1991 by a radiosonde in Coffeeville, Kansas. a. Explain why an exponential function would be expected to fit the data well. By reression, find the best-fitting exponential function. Record the correlation coefficient and paste the equation into your grapher's y= menu. Plot the equation on the same screen as the scatter plot. Does the graph fit the points well? b. Put another list in your grapher for the residual of each point. Then make a residual plot and sketch the result. Do the residuals follow a definite pattern, or are they randomly scattered? What real-world phenomenon could account for the deviations? c. Based on your residual plot in part b, could the exponential function be used to make predictions of pressure correct to the nearest millibar, if this accuracy were necessary?