Two important properties of a soil are its initial void ratio (eo, a measure of soil porosity) and its compression index (Cc, an indicator of soil compressibility). The article "Consolidation

and Hydraulic Conductivity of Zeolite-Amended Soil-Bentonite Backfills" (J. Geotech. Geoenviron.Engr., 2012: 15–25) reported the following data (read from a graph) for the Cc and eo variables for sand-bentonite backfills with varying amounts and types of zeolites. a. Using Cc as the response and e, as the explanatory variable, create the corresponding scatterplot. Do the values of Cc appear to be perfectly linearly related to the e, values? Explain. b. Determine the equation of the least squares line. (use both manual computation and programing to fit the line) c. What proportion of the observed variation in the compression index can be attributed to the approximate linear relationship between the two variables? d. Predict the value of the compression index when the initial void ratio is 1.10. Would you feel comfortable using the least squares line to predict the compression index when the initial void ratio is .80? Explain.