Warm Up

Each statement contains an error. Find it.

1.
There is a high correlation between the
gender of American workers and their
income
2.
We found a high correlation (r = 1.09)
between students rating of faculty
teaching and ratings made by other
faculty members.
3.
The correlation between planting rate
and yield of corn was found to be r = .23
per bushel.

Correlation Coefficient
Unit 3

Calculating r

Look at correlation coefficient

formula worksheet

Problem 1
Here are lengths in centimeters of the femur
and humerus for five fossil specimens.
Femur
38 56 59 64 74
Humerus 41 63 70 72 84
a)
Make a scatterplot and find the r value.
b)
Explain why the value of r matches the
scatterplot
c)
If we changed the length of centimeters
to inches would r change? Why?

Problem 2
The gas mileage of an automobile first increases
and then decreases as the speed increases.
Suppose that this relationship is very regular, as
shown by the following data on speed (miles per
hour) and mileage (miles per gallon):
Speed: 20 30 40
50
60
MPG: 24 28 30
28
24
Make a scatterplot of mileage vs. speed. Show that
the correlation between speed and mileage is r =
0. Explain why it is zero even though there is a
strong relationship.