Question

Aaliyah, Julio, Dan, and Miriam are each studying sets of data. Aaliyah is working with 14 data pairs with a correlation coefficient of 0.9. Julio is working with 13 data pairs with a correlation coefficient of –0.8. Dan is working with 10 data pairs with a correlation coefficient of 0.1. Miriam is working with 15 data pairs with a correlation coefficient of –0.2. For which two data sets is a linear regression model reasonable?
Aaliyah’s and Julio’s data sets
Julio’s and Miriam’s data sets
Dan’s and Miriam’s data sets
Miriam’s and Aaliyah’s data sets

Answer 1

Aaliyah’s and Julio’s data sets.

Reason: Their correlation coefficients (|0.9| and |0.8|) show strong linear relationships, so fitting a line is reasonable. Dan’s (0.1) and Miriam’s (−0.2) are too close to zero to justify linear regression.