Question

Karla is studying the relationship between two variables associated with students at her school. The scatter plot for the variables shows a linear relationship.

What correlation coefficient would indicate the strongest relationship between the two variables?
A. R=0.8419
B. R= -0.8894
C. R= -0.7612
D. R= 0.5009

Answer 1

The strongest relationship between the two variables is indicated by the correlation coefficient with the highest absolute value, which in the provided options is B. R= -0.8894.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correlation coefficient, denoted as r, measures the strength and direction of the linear relationship between two variables on a scatter plot. It ranges from -1 to +1, with -1 indicating a perfect negative linear correlation, +1 indicating a perfect positive linear correlation, and 0 indicating no linear correlation. To answer the question: What correlation coefficient would indicate the strongest relationship between the two variables? We look for the coefficient with the greatest absolute value. Among the options, A. R=0.8419, B. R= -0.8894, C. R= -0.7612, D. R= 0.5009, option B has the highest absolute value (0.8894), indicating the strongest relationship, despite the negative sign which only points to the direction of the relationship, not the strength.