Think of it like this:
* You have a set of observations: Maybe you're tracking the relationship between hours studied and test scores, or the price of a product and its sales.
* You want to understand the relationship: Is there a clear connection between these things?
* A linear model helps you find the "best fit" line: It's like drawing a line through the data points so that it's as close as possible to all of them. This line allows you to predict how one variable might change based on the other.
It's important to remember that not all data is perfectly linear, but a linear model can still be helpful for understanding general trends and making predictions. Think of it as a simplified way to describe the relationship between variables.