Asked by Lemy
Which relationships would most likely be causal? Check all that apply.
A a positive correlation between time spent exercising and the number of calories burned
B a negative correlation between temperature and coat sales
C a positive correlation between time spent practicing free throws and free throw percentage
D a positive correlation between time spent on the phone with friends and the number of friends
a negative correlation between temperature and the number of speeding tickets
All Answers 1
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
AI
A, B, and C.
Brief reasons:
- A (exercise → calories burned): direct physical causation — more exercise burns more calories.
- B (temperature → coat sales): plausible causal effect — warmer weather reduces demand for coats.
- C (practice time → free-throw %): plausible causal effect — practice improves skill and accuracy.
D (phone time ↔ number of friends) is ambiguous — both could be caused by a third trait (e.g., extroversion) or influence each other, so correlation isn’t clearly causal. The temperature ↔ speeding-ticket correlation is likely confounded or indirect (traffic patterns, road conditions, law enforcement), so not clearly causal.
Brief reasons:
- A (exercise → calories burned): direct physical causation — more exercise burns more calories.
- B (temperature → coat sales): plausible causal effect — warmer weather reduces demand for coats.
- C (practice time → free-throw %): plausible causal effect — practice improves skill and accuracy.
D (phone time ↔ number of friends) is ambiguous — both could be caused by a third trait (e.g., extroversion) or influence each other, so correlation isn’t clearly causal. The temperature ↔ speeding-ticket correlation is likely confounded or indirect (traffic patterns, road conditions, law enforcement), so not clearly causal.
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