Question

Assuming a linear relationship between x and y, if the coefficient of correlation (r) equals -0.75, this means that:

Answer 1

Since we are given that the relationship between x and y is linear. Therefore this means that the given equation takes the form of:

y = m x + b

where,

b is the y intercept of the equation

m is the slope of the equation

 

However we should take note that the slope m is directly proportional to the coefficient of correlation. Since our coefficient of correlation is negative, this only means that the value of y is decreasing with increasing x, hence plot of y and x is descending with increasing x. Furthermore, this also tells that for every 1 unit increase of x, there is a 0.75 units decrease of y.