Q.4.161 - Elementary Statistics

Question

More Money, More Beer? The data for per capita income and per capita beer consumption for the $50$ states and Washington, D.C., from Exercise 4.77 are on the WeissStats site.

a. decide whether the use of the linear correlation coefficient as a descriptive measure for the data is appropriate. If so, then also do parts (b) and (c).

b. obtain the linear correlation coefficient.

c. interpret the value of $X$ in terms of the linear relationship between the mo variables in question.

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

The data does not appear to have a linear pattern. As a result, portions (b) through (c) will be omitted.

Part (a) Step 1: Given Information

The data from Exercise 4.74 for home size (in square feet) and assessed value (in thousands of dollars) for the same homes as in Exercise 4.157 are on the WeissStats site.

Part (a) Step 2: Explanation

The MINITAB: can be used to create a scatterplot for the given data.

Step 1: Select Graph > Scatterplot from the drop-down menu.

Step 2: Click OK after selecting With Connect Line.

Step 3: Add a BEER column to the $Y$ variables section.

Step 4: Add an INCOME column to the $X$ variables section.

Step 5: Click the OK button.

The resulting scatterplot will be

Finding a regression line for the data is not acceptable since the observations are not dispersed around a line in the scatterplot above.