I have population data for the last 50 years (total population for a country), that I need to make linear. In its original it has a positive relationship (looking at a scatter plot) but it is not linear. There are three smaller periods with large increases in population, which makes the scatter plot look almost like a jigsaw. I have tried transforming the data with logaritms, square roots etc but I do not succeed in making the scatter plot like more or less linear. Any advice?
3 answers
Try doing 1/x or maybe x^3
Populations normally grow exponentially, so transforming your data with logarithms should work. What base did you use?
You might also try the natural logarithm.
You might also try the natural logarithm.
You should remove these outliers or extreme values.