This is the course project for the August 2014 offering of Regression Models by JHU in Coursera. To follow instructions, I kept my submission to 5 pages, including an appendix with figures. However, I also created a longer version that is about 8 pages which I feel is a better report and more interesting and enjoyable to read. My grader is encouraged to grade the 5 page report since that was the assignment instruction, but is encouraged to ignore the instruction and simply read the long version. The .pdf that was turned into the Coursera online class was the short version.
Information about the dataset can be found at this URL: http://stat.ethz.ch/R-manual/R-devel/library/datasets/html/mtcars.html.
The data was extracted from a 1974 issue of the automobile magazine Motor Trend, and lists fuel consumption and other characteristics for 32 automobiles from the years 1973 and 1974. Please see the Appendix for more information about the dataset. Below is a table explaining the variables in the dataset along with the new names I gave them which were used throughout the R code.
| Column | Variable Name (Original / New) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | mpg / MPG | Miles traveled per gallon of gasoline |
| 2 | cyl / Cylinders | Number of cylinders in the engine |
| 3 | disp / Displacement | Engine displacement in cubic inches |
| 4 | hp / Horsepower | Gross horsepower |
| 5 | drat / DRatio | Rear axle ratio |
| 6 | wt / Weight | Weight in thousands of pounds |
| 7 | qsec / QuarTime | Quarter mile time in seconds |
| 8 | vs / VS | V/S (meaning unclear) |
| 9 | am / TransType | Transmission type |
| 10 | gear / Gears | Number of forward gears |
| 11 | carb / Carbs | Number of carburetors |