Banana meal diet for fish. The tambaqui, a freshwater fish native to tropical South America, is an important food source to the region. For tambaqui reared in captivity, a practical diet consists of corn meal. Aquaculture Reports (Vol. 17, 2020) published a study to evaluate replacing corn meal with a diet consisting of whole banana meal. The new diet with various amounts of banana meal was fed to each in a sample of 80 juvenile tambaqui. The researchers wanted to study the whole banana meal diet’s effect on tambaqui growth. Consequently, they fit a simple linear regression model with weight gain (y, grams) as the dependent variable and amount of whole banana meal (x, percentage) in diet as the independent variable.

a. Give the equation fit in the simple linear regression.

b. The estimates of the y-intercept and slope of the line are 44.29 and -.26, respectively. Give the equation of the least squares line.

c. Interpret the estimates of the y-intercept and slope practically.