Slopes of a Line, and Regression

[LaterBloomer]

The only thing I remember from Algebra is that y=mx+b, and I don't remember what any of the letters stand for. Now, I'm minding my own business studying stats, and I see this formula in a book that looks something like this y(actually, it has a little carrot above it) = b0 (actually, the 0 is a subscript) + b1 (again, the 1 is a subscript)x. Now, they're calling it some sort of formula for linear regression, or something equally outlandish. Why are they doing this? Do the mathematics gods hate me? Not only do they expect me to learn a bunch of Greek letters (both upper and lower case), but they're trying to confuse me with different formulas that say the same thing. Or do they?

I guess that's my question. Are they the same formulas? And, if not, why not? If they are, you don't need to explain why two different forumlas are being used. I know. It's 'cause the math gods are trying to mess with my mind. banghead