3.
5 Scatter graphs
1 Three students drew lines of best fit on their graphs. Whose line best
represents the relationship between the age and price of second-hand motor scooters?
Explain why.
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2 A car company records the numbers of miles cars of different engine sizes, in litres,
travel using one gallon of fuel.
The table shows this information.
Engine size (litres) 1.0 1.4 1.6 2.1 2.5 3.5 4.0 5.8
Number of miles 49 45 38 31 32 28 20 6
a Draw a scatter graph to show
this information.
b What type of correlation does this scatter graph show? .......................
c Complete the sentence:
The larger the engine size, ....................................................................................................
d Draw a line of best fit on the scatter graph.
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3.5 Scatter graphs
1 This table shows information about the maximum temperature and the number of
hours of sunshine in 12 UK towns on one day.
Number of hours 7.5 8 9 9 9.5 10 10.5 11.5 11.5 12 12 12
of sunshine
Maximum 13.2 14 14.5 14.7 14.5 15 15.2 16.1 16.2 16.5 16.9 18.6
temperature (°C)
a Draw a scatter graph for this data.
b Describe the correlation between the number of hours of sunshine and the maximum
temperature.
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c Draw the line of best fit on your scatter graph.
d The following day is forecast to be more cloudy, with an average of 5 hours less sunshine
per town. Use your graph to discuss how this could affect the temperature in these towns.
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2 This table shows information about 10 students.
It shows the age of each student and their best times for running 100 metres and 200 metres.
Age (years) 9.8 10.5 11 11.1 11.6 11.7 12.2 13.4 13.5 13.9
100 metre time (seconds) 16.5 15.6 16.1 14.8 15.1 14.9 14.3 13.2 14.1 12.8
200 metre time (seconds) 35.2 31.1 34.8 30.3 39.2 29.7 33.2 30.5 32.8 28.2
a What correlation would you expect to see between the age of each student and their best
time to run 100 metres and 200 metres?
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b Plot the two scatter graphs and state the type of correlation shown.
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3.5 Scatter graphs
1 Here are three scatter graphs.
Write the correct type of correlation underneath each graph.
Choose from positive correlation, negative correlation or no correlation.
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2 A teacher records 10 students’ Maths test marks (out of 20) and their Science test marks
(out of 20).
Maths test mark 7 12 10 16 19 17 13 15 9 17
Science test mark 9 15 10 15 19 19 14 14 10 16
a The first two
points (7, 9) and
(12, 15) have
been plotted on
the axes.
Complete the
scatter graph by
plotting the rest
of the points from
the table.
b Complete the sentence.
The higher a student scores in Maths, the .................... their Science test mark is likely to
be.
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3 Use these three guidelines to decide if each line on the scatter graphs is a line of best fit.
A line of best fit is a straight line.
A line of best fit has the same number of points on each side of the line.
A line of best fit follows the trend of the data.
.......................
.......................
.......................
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