Step by step
The question
Question: draw a scatter plot of (1, 5), (2, 2), (3, 6), (4, 6), (5, 2), (6, 5).
What is the correlation?
Correlation tells if y goes up or down as x goes up, and how closely.
1 Draw the axes
x goes along the bottom.
y goes up the side.
2 Plot the points
(1, 5): across to 1, then up to 5.
(2, 2): across 2, up 2.
And so on, one dot for each point.
3 Find the direction
The points go neither uphill nor downhill.
They are scattered all over.
So there is no correlation.
Careful!
A correlation shows that two things move together.
It does not prove that one causes the other.
So the answer: no correlation.
4 Check
Let's check with numbers.
The 3 points on the left have a mean y of about 4.3.
The 3 on the right: about 4.3.
About the same height: no clear direction.
So it is right!
Let's look back.
First: draw the axes.
Then: plot the points.
Then: find the direction.
Last: check.