Correlation and Lines of Best Fit

Students looked at several examples of scatter plots. We discussed that in some cases, as one variable increased, so did the other. These scatter plots display a positive correlation, and the dots tend to move up and to the right on the coordinate grid. In other cases, the scatter plots suggest that as one variable increased, the other decreased. These scatter plots show a negative correlation, and the dots appear to move down and to the right on the coordinate grid. The line that tends to move through the middle of the dots, showing the average tendency of the data, can be considered the line of best fit. Generally speaking, lines of best fit have equal number of points above and below the line, and the points are about the same distance from the "average" line.

Tonight's Homework: Read page 295, and then do Lesson 5.4 ( 13, 15, 17 - 22 ). Finish the box and whisker plots for the Skittles® data that you started in class today.