Wainer (1997) presented data on the relationship between hours of TV watching and mean scores on the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for eighth-grade mathematics assessment. The data follow, separated for boys and girls.

Hours TV Watched 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Girls NAEP 258 269 267 261 259 253 239 Boys NAEP 276 273 292 269 266 259 249

(a) Plot the relationship between Hours Watched and NAEP Mathematics scores separately for boys and girls (but put them on the same graph).

(b) Find and interpret the slope and intercept for these data, again keeping boys and girls separate.

(c) We know from other data that boys spend more time watching television than girls.

Could this be used as an explanation of performance differences between boys and girls?