Find the correlation coefficient, r, of the data described below. On today's episode of Science Time with Luca, Luca demonstrates that walking speed affects how wet a person will get in the rain. He simulates walking through the rain at various speeds. Luca keeps track of his walking speed (in meters per second), x. Next, he measures how wet he is by taking the difference of his weight before and after walking through the rain (in kilograms), y.

Question

Walking Speed Amount of Water
1.08 1.84
1.24 1.95
1.32 1.15
1.51 0.87
1.58 0.78

1. 0.8
2. - 0.9
3. 0.2
4. 0.7

Answer 1

The correlation coefficient, r, is -0.96.

This indicates a very strong negative correlation between walking speed and the amount of water Luca collects while walking in the rain. This means that as walking speed increases, the amount of water collected decreases.