Scatterplots and correlation review (article) | Khan Academy (2024)

A scatterplot is a type of data display that shows the relationship between two numerical variables. Each member of the dataset gets plotted as a point whose x-y coordinates relates to its values for the two variables.

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  • Lauren H.

    6 years agoPosted 6 years ago. Direct link to Lauren H.'s post “Would a V shaped scatter ...”

    Would a V shaped scatter plot have positive correlation, negative correlation, or no correlation?

    (6 votes)

    • Ian Pulizzotto

      6 years agoPosted 6 years ago. Direct link to Ian Pulizzotto's post “If a V shaped scatter plo...”

      Scatterplots and correlation review (article) | Khan Academy (4)

      If a V shaped scatter plot is perfectly symmetric, there would be no (linear) correlation. So if a V shaped scatter plot is nearly symmetric, there is expected to be little or no (linear) correlation.

      (23 votes)

  • If you had an "O" shape, would it have a positive, negative, or no linear relationship?

    (5 votes)

    • MichaelP

      a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to MichaelP's post “If it was a perfectly sym...”

      If it was a perfectly symmetrical shape, there would be no correlation, but in real life that wouldn't happen. So if there was a scatterplot where all of the points formed a near 'O' shape, there would be very little correlation.

  • RJA

    2 years agoPosted 2 years ago. Direct link to RJA's post “I feel good about my know...”

    I feel good about my knowledge of scatter plots.

    (4 votes)

  • oscarjt

    5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to oscarjt's post “if you had an X shape as ...”

    if you had an X shape as the scatter plot would that have a negative, positive or no correlation

    (2 votes)

    • Jerry Nilsson

      5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to Jerry Nilsson's post “It is unlikely that there...”

      It is unlikely that there wouldn't be any correlation at all, but it would be very weak for sure, so the correlation coefficient would tend towards zero, and thereby the slope of the regression line would also be close to zero.

      (2 votes)

  • divya ✧・゚~

    a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to divya ✧・゚~'s post “what correlation would a ...”

    what correlation would a straight vertical line scatter plot be

    (2 votes)

    • daniella

      4 months agoPosted 4 months ago. Direct link to daniella's post “A straight vertical line ...”

      A straight vertical line scatter plot would indicate a perfect negative or positive correlation, depending on the direction of the line. If all the points fall exactly on a straight vertical line from top to bottom, it suggests a perfect negative correlation, meaning that as one variable increases, the other decreases linearly. Similarly, if all the points fall on a straight vertical line from bottom to top, it suggests a perfect positive correlation, indicating that as one variable increases, the other increases linearly.

      (1 vote)

  • niki.lynch

    6 months agoPosted 6 months ago. Direct link to niki.lynch's post “What makes it non linear?”

    What makes it non linear?

    (2 votes)

    • RICHIE RICH

      6 months agoPosted 6 months ago. Direct link to RICHIE RICH's post “Not linear is when there ...”

      Not linear is when there has no tendency to be 'up a ravine or down a ravine'

      (1 vote)

  • 20zhouxi

    5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to 20zhouxi's post “What if the data is clump...”

    What if the data is clumping in one corner?

    (0 votes)

    • Pearl Rainwater

      4 years agoPosted 4 years ago. Direct link to Pearl Rainwater's post “Then it would have no lin...”

      Then it would have no linear correlation, and should be marked as having no correlation/no linear correlation.

      (4 votes)

  • Ireland Bradley

    7 months agoPosted 7 months ago. Direct link to Ireland Bradley's post “why does the no associati...”

    why does the no association plots always have to be in a cluster to be identified as no association plots?

    (1 vote)

    • daniella

      4 months agoPosted 4 months ago. Direct link to daniella's post “The term "no association"...”

      The term "no association" in the context of scatterplots refers to the absence of a clear pattern or relationship between the two variables being plotted. While scatterplots with no association may sometimes exhibit clustering of data points, especially if there's random variation or noise present in the data, this is not a requirement. Scatterplots with no association can have data points scattered across the plot with no discernible pattern or trend. However, it's essential to examine the overall distribution of points to determine whether there's any systematic relationship between the variables or if they're randomly distributed. If there's no apparent relationship, it's classified as having no association.

      (1 vote)

  • azaria murphy

    3 years agoPosted 3 years ago. Direct link to azaria murphy's post “Mary is making a scatter ...”

    Mary is making a scatter plot from two data sets. One set of data gives the amount of precipitation in inches. The second data set is the number of umbrellas sold. Which type of correlation would you expect?

    (0 votes)

    • green_ninja

      3 years agoPosted 3 years ago. Direct link to green_ninja's post “Making the precipitation ...”

      Making the precipitation the "x-values" and the number of umbrellas sold the "y-values", I would say that the scatter plot would have a positive correlation; people should generally buy more umbrellas as the amount of rain increases.

      Hope this helps!😄

      (2 votes)

  • Louis Emmy

    3 years agoPosted 3 years ago. Direct link to Louis Emmy's post “Hi! my name is Emmy.I do...”

    Hi! my name is Emmy.
    I don't how they make to put the point? Thx for answer me.

    (0 votes)

    • Rawia J

      a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Rawia J's post “So, you will most likely ...”

      So, you will most likely have a graph or a table that tells you what you plot on your scatter graph/ scatterplot. For example, you have the height and weight of a student named Emmy, like you! Let's say (may this not be offensive in any way) that you are 140 cm tall (for height) and 45 kg (for weight). Maybe we can put the height on the y axis and the weight on the x axis. Find 45 on the x axis and go up until you reach the same line as 140 on the y axis. This is how you make and use a scatterplot/ scatter graph. Hope I helped you!

      (1 vote)

Scatterplots and correlation review (article) | Khan Academy (2024)

FAQs

What are scatter plots in Khan Academy? ›

A scatterplot is a type of data display that shows the relationship between two numerical variables. Each member of the dataset gets plotted as a point whose x-y coordinates relates to its values for the two variables.

How to describe a scatter plot? ›

What is a scatter plot? A scatter plot (aka scatter chart, scatter graph) uses dots to represent values for two different numeric variables. The position of each dot on the horizontal and vertical axis indicates values for an individual data point. Scatter plots are used to observe relationships between variables.

What does a straight line on a scatter plot mean? ›

When points are graphed on a scatterplot, it is possible to find a line of best fit—a straight line that best represents the data on a scatterplot. Here's the same graph with the line of best fit drawn in.

What is a scatterplot and how does it help us? ›

A scatter plot identifies a possible relationship between changes observed in two different sets of variables. It provides a visual and statistical means to test the strength of a relationship between two variables.

What 3 things does a scatter plot reveal? ›

Use a scatter plot to see if two variables are related, when one variable has many values for the other, and when you have two variables that work well together.

How do you interpret a correlation scatter plot? ›

If the data points are following a pattern up from left to right, then the scatterplot is said to be have a positive relationship and be a positive correlation scatterplot; if the data points are following a pattern down from left to right, then the scatterplot is said to have a negative relationship and be a negative ...

How to tell if a scatter plot is strong or weak? ›

The strength of a scatter plot is usually described as weak, moderate or strong. The more spread out the points are, the weaker the relationship. If the points are clearly clustered, or closely follow a curve or line, the relationship is described as strong.

What does a strong positive correlation in a scatter plot look like? ›

The scatter about the line is quite small, so there is a strong linear relationship. The slope of the line is positive (small values of X correspond to small values of Y; large values of X correspond to large values of Y), so there is a positive co-relation (that is, a positive correlation) between X and Y.

What do outliers mean on a scatter plot? ›

Outlier: An outlier is a data point that does not fit the rest of the data. It lies outside of a cluster and does not follow the same pattern. Scatter plots can have many outliers, just one outlier, or no outliers.

What are the disadvantages of a scatter plot? ›

Disadvantages of scatter plots

Limited analysis: A scatter plot only allows you to analyze two variables at a time. This may limit the depth of your analysis of a certain topic or demographic.

What are the two axes called in a scatter plot? ›

When we prepare a graph the independent variable is always on the “x-axis”, and the dependent variable is always on the “y-axis”. We indicate which variable is which by saying as a function of or “versus”, with the dependent variable coming first, and the independent variable coming second.

What is a scatter plot with means? ›

A mean-mean scatter plot shows a 2-dimensional representation of the differences between many means. The mean-mean scatter plot shows the mean of a group on the horizontal axis against the mean of the other group on the vertical axis with a dot at the intersection.

What is a plot in a scatter plot? ›

A scatter plot is composed of a horizontal axis containing the measured values of one variable (independent variable) and a vertical axis representing the measurements of the other variable (dependent variable). The purpose of the scatter plot is to display what happens to one variable when another variable is changed.

What is an example of using a scatter plot? ›

A simple scatter plot can be used to see the difference in outdoor temperatures compared to ice cream sales. The two variables would be outside temperature and ice cream sales. This data could be collected and organized into a table. Once the data is organized into a table, it can be turned into ordered pairs.

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