Question

The scatter plot shows the relationship between the amount of time students in a mathematics class studied for an exam and their score on the exam.

scatter plot titled mathematics class, with the x axis labeled time studying in minutes and the y axis labeled score on exam with points at 0 comma 50, 10 comma 52, 30 comma 54, 40 comma 55, 50 comma 55, 60 comma 56, 70 comma 60, 75 comma 65, 80 comma 70, 85 comma 78, 90 comma 83, 95 comma 90, 100 comma 95, and 105 comma 100

Which of the following describes the pattern of association for the graph?

There is a positive linear association.
There is a positive nonlinear association.
There is a negative linear association.
There is a negative nonlinear association.

Answers

GPT-4o mini
To determine the pattern of association in the scatter plot based on the given points, let's analyze the data.

The points you provided show the following relationships between time studying and exam scores:

- As the amount of time studying increases (from 0 to 105 minutes), the scores on the exam tend to increase as well (from 50 to 100).

This indicates that there appears to be a positive relationship between the two variables. It is reasonable to conclude that the association is positive.

Next, we need to determine if the association is linear or nonlinear. A linear association implies that the points would generally follow a straight line, whereas a nonlinear association indicates that the relationship might curve or take on a more complex shape.

Based on the scores you provided, the scores appear to increase but do so at a decreasing rate toward the higher end of study time (e.g., as time increases from 60 to 105 minutes, the increase in score is smaller). This suggests that the relationship does not maintain a constant rate of increase, which indicates a potential nonlinear association.

Therefore, the best description of the pattern of association for the provided scatter plot is:

**There is a positive nonlinear association.**