Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics Core and Extended CD-ROM

Core questions: 1 – 2
Extended questions: 3

Extended revision exercises: Data handling

Worksheet 16: Scatter diagrams and correlation

1 (i) Describe the correlation shown on the following scatter diagrams.

(ii) Draw a line of best fit on graphs (a), (b), (d) and (e).

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e)

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 Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics Core and Extended CD-ROM

2 Mrs Almasri wants to know whether her students’ results on a mid-year test are a good indication of how
well they will do in the IGCSE examinations. The results from the test and the examination are given for
a group of students.

Mid-year IGCSE Mid-year IGCSE

Student Student
mark mark mark mark
Anna 78 73 Tina 92 86
Nick 57 51 Yemi 41 50
Sarah 30 39 Asma 75 64
Ahmed 74 80 Rita 84 77
Sanjita 74 74 Mike 55 58
Moeneeb 88 73 Karen 90 80
Kwezi 94 88 James 89 87
Pete 83 69 Priya 95 96
Idowu 70 63 Claudia 67 70
Sam 61 67 Noel 45 50
Emma 64 68 Wilma 70 64
Gibrine 49 54 Teshi 29 34

(a) Draw a scatter diagram with the IGCSE results on the vertical axis.
(b) Comment on the strength of the correlation.
(c) Draw a line of best fit for this data.
(d) Estimate the IGCSE results of a student who got 65 in the mid-year test.
(e) Comment on the likely accuracy of your estimate in part (d).

3 A scatter diagram is drawn and the (x, y) points form a perfect horizontal line.

(a) Comment on the correlation between the variables x and y. Fully explain your answer.

(b) What if the points formed a perfect vertical line instead?

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2015 2