Which situation would most likely be represented by a negative correlation: hours of practice and your golf score, hours of practice and the number of baskets you make in basketball, or hours of practice and the cost of a computer? Hint: In golf, the lower the score, the better.
What do you think?
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To determine which situation would most likely be represented by a negative correlation, we need to understand what negative correlation means. In statistics, a negative correlation exists when one variable increases and the other variable decreases or vice versa.
In this case, we are given three situations: hours of practice and your golf score, hours of practice and the number of baskets you make in basketball, and hours of practice and the cost of a computer.
Let's analyze each situation individually:
1. Hours of practice and your golf score: In golf, the lower the score, the better. Therefore, if you spend more hours practicing, it is likely that your golf score will decrease. This means there is a negative correlation between hours of practice and your golf score.
2. Hours of practice and the number of baskets you make in basketball: Here, it is reasonable to assume that the more you practice, the more skilled you become, resulting in an increase in the number of baskets made. Therefore, there is a positive correlation between hours of practice and the number of baskets made. It is not a negative correlation.
3. Hours of practice and the cost of a computer: In this case, there is no inherent relationship between the two variables. The cost of a computer does not depend on the hours of practice. Therefore, there is no correlation between hours of practice and the cost of a computer.
In conclusion, the situation that would most likely be represented by a negative correlation is hours of practice and your golf score.