Search 72,540 tutors   Written by tutor Sarah C.  Scatterplots
are special graphs showing the relationship, or correlation,
between two different variables. Scatterplots are very similar
to line graphs, except the data points shown are not necessarily
spaced consistently and are not connected by a line. Consider
the scatterplot shown below. What does it tell us?  This
scatterplot shows the relationship between two variables, or
factors: height and shoe size. There is not a perfect
relationship between the two variables, which means we are
unable to predict with certainty a person’s shoe size from
simply knowing his or her weight. Let’s consider a specific
portion of the scatterplot: heights that related to size 5
shoes. Individuals of three different heights (54, 56, and 57
inches) each wear size 5 shoes. If we look even closer, we can
see that second person with a height of 57 inches wears size 6
shoes instead of size 5 shoes. This highlights, again our
inability to use a scatterplot to form a definite predi