Elizabeth bought 3-inch tomato plants at home depot. Each week after she bought the plants she measured their height. she recorded the data in the table below.
Time(wks) 0 1 2 3 4
Height of
tomato
plants(in.)3 5 7 9 11
what is the Independent variable?
What is the dependent variable?
what is the correlation?
An independent variable is the potential stimulus or cause, usually directly manipulated by the experimenter, so it could also be called a manipulative variable.
A dependent variable is the response or measure of results.
http://www.mathsisfun.com/data/correlation.html
In this scenario, the independent variable is the "Time (wks)" as it is the factor that can be controlled and manipulated by Elizabeth. The dependent variable is the "Height of tomato plants (in.)" as it is the factor that is being observed and measured, and its value depends on the independent variable.
To determine the correlation between the independent and dependent variables, we can plot the data points on a graph and observe the pattern. Let's plot the data from the table:
Time (wks) | Height of tomato plants (in.)
-----------------------------------------
0 | 3
1 | 5
2 | 7
3 | 9
4 | 11
By plotting these points on a graph and connecting them, we can see that there is a clear positive correlation between the "Time (wks)" and "Height of tomato plants (in.)". As time progresses, the height of the tomato plants increases.