Let y = number of parties attended in the past month and x = number of dates in the past month, measured for all single students at your school. Explain the mean and variability aspects of the regression model μy = α + βx, in the context of these variables. In your answer, explain why
(a) It is more sensible to use a straight line to model the means of the conditional distributions rather than individual observations and
(b) The model needs to allow variation around the mean.