1. Experience with a certain type of plastic indicates that a relation exists between the hardness(measured in Burnell units) of items molded from the plastic (Y)and the elapsed time since the termination of the molding process (X). It is proposed to study this relation by means of regressionanalysis.Aparticipant in the discussion objects, pointing out that the hardening of the plastic"is the result of a natural chemical process that doesn't leave anything to chance, so the relationmustbemathematicalandregressionanalysis isnotappropriate."Evaluatethisobjection.