Calculating a Correlation Coefficient

So far, you've had practice estimating the correlation coefficient when given a set of choices. 

Try it out! Can you correctly match the correlation coefficient with it's scatter plot?


Click here to see the answer!

It's easy enough to match the correlation coefficient to a scatter plot when you are given multiple choices. But how is the correlation coefficient calculated?

The correlation coefficient is calculated using the following formula, where x represents the x-values in the data set and y represents the y-values in the data set.


Looks a little tricky, right? It takes some time to use that formula by hand to come up with the correlation coefficient. 

The good news is: I'm not going to make you calculate the correlation coefficient by hand! Continue on to the next lesson page to learn how to create scatter plots and calculate the correlation coefficient using Google Sheets.