Question

in the decathlon event at large track meets, male athletes compete in a total of 10 events. their combined performance in each of the events is used to determine the winner. two of the events are the 200 - meter dash and the javelin throw. for 12 athletes at a large international competition, performances in these events are recorded and placed in a scatterplot. the performance for one athlete from latvia is labeled in the graph. how does this point influence the correlation of the scatterplot? this data point weakens the correlation. this data point strengthens the correlation. this data point has no influence on the correlation. removing this data point would lower the correlation coefficient.

Explanation:

Outliers in a scatter - plot can affect the correlation. If a data point does not follow the general trend of the other points, it weakens the correlation. In this case, the data point from Latvia is an outlier. Removing an outlier that weakens the correlation would increase the correlation coefficient (not lower it). A data point that is not in line with the trend does not strengthen the correlation and does have an influence.

Answer:

This data point weakens the correlation.