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.

Question

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.

Answer 1

To determine the pattern of association in the scatter plot described, we need to assess how the score on the exam (y-axis) changes with the amount of time studying (x-axis).

From the points provided:

• As the time studying increases (from 0 to 105 minutes), the exam scores generally increase as well.
• Although there are some fluctuations in the scores at various time intervals, the overall trend shows that higher study times are associated with higher scores.

Given this information, the pattern of association can be classified as "There is a positive linear association." However, it's important to note that while the overall trend is positive, the exact relationship may not be perfectly linear due to the fluctuations. But in the absence of nonlinear characteristics being more dominant, we categorize this as a positive linear association.