Write the Word or Phrase That Best Completes Each Statement $\mathrm{x}=1$

Essay

Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.
-The table shows the number of new AIDS cases (in thousands) in the U.S. in five consecutive years.

Let $\mathrm{x}=1$ correspond to 1988 and let $\mathrm{f}(\mathrm{x})$ be the number of new AIDS cases (in thousands) in the U.S. in year $x$ . Using the points $(1,30.7)$ and $(5,46.0)$ , the following linear function is obtained to model the data: $f(x)=3.825 x+26.875$ . What does the slope, 3.825 , indicate?