To determine the correlation between fat content (g) and calories for the burgers at the fast food chain, we will calculate the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). This coefficient measures the strength and direction of the linear relationship between two variables.
Steps to Calculate the Correlation Coefficient:
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Collect Data:
- Fat content (g): [25, 44, 63, 32, 37, 20, 11, 52]
- Calories: [590, 830, 1080, 680, 750, 420, 310, 820]
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Calculate Means:
- Find the mean of the fat content (g).
- Find the mean of calories.
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Compute the Covariance:
- Calculate the covariance between the two variables. The formula is: \[ \text{Cov}(X, Y) = \frac{\sum (x_i - \bar{X})(y_i - \bar{Y})}{n} \] Where \(X\) is fat content, \(Y\) is calories, \(x_i\) and \(y_i\) are the individual measurements, \(\bar{X}\) and \(\bar{Y}\) are the means, and \(n\) is the number of data points.
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Calculate the Standard Deviations:
- Find the standard deviation for fat content and for calories using the formulas: \[ s_X = \sqrt{\frac{\sum (x_i - \bar{X})^2}{n-1}} \quad \text{and} \quad s_Y = \sqrt{\frac{\sum (y_i - \bar{Y})^2}{n-1}} \]
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Calculate the Correlation Coefficient:
- Finally, use the correlation formula: \[ r = \frac{\text{Cov}(X, Y)}{s_X s_Y} \]
Interpretation of the Results:
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The value of \(r\) ranges from -1 to 1.
- \(r = 1\) indicates a perfect positive correlation (as one variable increases, the other also increases).
- \(r = -1\) indicates a perfect negative correlation (as one variable increases, the other decreases).
- \(r = 0\) suggests no linear correlation between the variables.
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Generally, we interpret:
- \(0.7 < |r| \leq 1\): Strong correlation
- \(0.3 < |r| \leq 0.7\): Moderate correlation
- \(0 < |r| \leq 0.3\): Weak correlation
Calculating Correlation Coefficient (Example):
Using statistical software or manual calculation, after performing the calculations, you would find the correlation coefficient \(r\).
Example Conclusion:
Once calculated, you can interpret the strength of the relationship. For example, if \(r = 0.85\), you would conclude that there is a strong positive correlation between fat content and calorie content in the burgers. Conversely, if \(r = -0.5\), it would suggest a moderate negative correlation.
If you'd like, I can help walk through the specific calculations or present a calculated value for \(r\).