Chad Miller, financial analyst at ABC Corporation, is examining the behavior of quarterly utility costs for budgeting purposes. Miller collects the following data on machine$-$hours worked

and utility costs for the past $8$ quarters:

$($Click the icon to view the data.$)$

Read the requirements.

Requirement $1.$ Estimate the cost function for the quarterly data using the high$-$low method. $($Complete all answer boxes.$)$

$=$

Data table

Requirements

Estimate the cost function for the quarterly data using the high$-$low method.

Plot and comment on the estimated cost function.

Miller anticipates that ABC will operate machines for $105,000$ hours in quarter

Calculate the predicted utility costs in quarter $9$ using the cost function

estimated in requirement $1.$