The slope of the line produced by Lisa’s graphing calculator has nothing to do with whether m causes n, n causes m, or neither (One exception to this would be if the slope were 0. This would imply no correlation, and thus, no causation.) Since the correlation coefficient (r) is 0.962 in both cases, a correlation probably exists between m and n. However, correlation does not imply causation, nor does it imply a lack of causation. Therefore, the conclusion of Lisa’s that is the most valid is m might cause n, or n might cause m.
