Question
A study finds a strong correlation between the number of people at the beach and ice cream sales. What is the most reasonable explanation?
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1 point
Eating ice cream causes more people to go to the beach.
More people at the beach cause ice cream sales to increase.
A third variable, such as hot weather, is affecting both factors.
Ice cream companies advertise more at the beach, creating demand
*
1 point
Eating ice cream causes more people to go to the beach.
More people at the beach cause ice cream sales to increase.
A third variable, such as hot weather, is affecting both factors.
Ice cream companies advertise more at the beach, creating demand
Answers
GPT-4o mini
The most reasonable explanation for the strong correlation between the number of people at the beach and ice cream sales is: **A third variable, such as hot weather, is affecting both factors.** This suggests that both ice cream sales and the number of people at the beach can increase due to warm weather, creating a correlation between the two without implying a direct causal relationship.