holmes

4/6/2015

PSTAT 5LS
HW 2
1.
If the correlation between body weight and annual income were high and positive, what could we
conclude? Why?

2.
Which one of the following statements involving correlation is possible and reasonable? Why?
A. The correlation between hair color and eye color is 0.80.
B. The correlation between the height of a father and the height of his first son is 0.6
C. The correlation between left foot length and right foot length is 2.35.
D. The correlation between hair color and age is positive.

3.
Values of two variables x and y obtained from a survey are recorded below
x
y

2
10

2
9

2
12

6
13

6
15

9
12

8
13

Given the following table of additional information

x =5

(x

x ) = 54

y = 12

(x

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
k)

y =24
2

x )( yi y ) 22

Identify, in words, the independent (or explanatory) variable.

Identify, in words, the dependent (or response) variable.
Find the standard deviation of x.
Find the standard deviation of y.
Find the correlation coefficient between x and y. (Show your calculation neatly)
Explain carefully the meaning of the value you obtain for the correlation coefficient.
Find the least squares regression line.
Find the coefficient of determination.
Explain carefully the meaning of the value you obtain for the coefficient of determination
Find the coefficient of non-determination.
Explain carefully the meaning of the value you obtain for the coefficient of non-determination

4.
Correlation does not necessarily imply causation. Give an example of 2 variables with strong positive
correlation that are not causally connected.

holmes

4/6/2015

5.
a)

A research study has reported that there is a correlation of r = 0.59 between the weight of an
experimental animal and the amount of nicotine that is fatal to the animal when consumed.
Interpret r within the context of this study.

b) What is the range of values for the coefficient of non-determination?

c)

When all points fall on the regression line, what are the possible values of the correlation
coefficient?

d) Give an example of two variables that are negatively correlated.

e)

The points on a scatterplot all lie close to the line whose equation is y 14 32 x . What is the
value of the intercept of this line? What is the value of the slope?

f)

If you know that the value of r is very close to zero, what do you think the value of b1 would be?
Explain.

6.
The boxplot below shows that 25% of the patients had fasting plasma glucose levels of more than
________?

7.
A researcher believes that there is a linear relationship between BMI (kg/m2) of pregnant mothers and the
birth-weight (BW in kg) of their newborn. The regression line for the data the researcher collected is:
predicted BW = 1.699 + 0.0345(BMI).
Compute the predicted BW for a BMI of 45 kg/m2.

8.
Which of the following is true of the slope of the least-squares regression line?
A) It has the same sign as the correlation coefficient.
B) The square of the slope equals the fraction of the variation in the response variable that is
explained by the explanatory variable.
C) It is unit-less.
END OF HOMEWORK