Math Lab: Correlation of Temperature Data

Day 1: Generating Scatter Plots

Goal: By the end of today you will have four complete scatter plots for the months of January
2017, March 2017, July 2017, and December 2017
Step by step directions:

1.) Open the google sheet that was posted to google classroom
2.) The bottom of the sheet says which months’ data you are looking at

3.) Click on January 2017

4.) This is a data table with all of the dates in the first column and the high temperature for
the day in the second column. Highlight both columns completely. Picture below.

5.) Click on “insert” on the top of the page

6.) That will open up new options in a drop-down menu. Next click on the “chart” button
(example in the above picture). A new window will open up on the right side of the
sheet. This is the “chart editor” window. It is where we will do most of our work to
change the way our scatter plot looks.
7.) This will convert our data into a line graph. Now we need to convert it to a scatterplot
Click on “chart type” and scroll to scatterplot. Click on it. This changes our line graph
into a scatterplot.

8.) Next, make sure the box is checked that says “use row 1 as headers”.
9.) First we are going to change our y-axis to show only areas the data is in. For example, in
the above scatter plot there is no data for temperature less than 20. So we would
change that axis to show temperatures 20 to 80. This is done by clicking on “customize”
on the chart editor. This where you can change the design of your scatterplot. Since we
are changing the y-axis we have to select vertical axis.

10.) Change the minimum and maximum to better fit the data. We do not want a lot
of dead areas where no data is shown. Do not be afraid to play around with the section.
If you try something that does not work just re-set the numbers to what they originally
where and try again.

11.) Once you have to y-axis set-up move on to the titles for our scatterplot and axis.
Click on the “chart & axis titles” button under “chart editor”. Clicking on “type” and will
open a drop-down menu of different things you can do. Click on “Chart Title”; this will
allow you to edit the chart title. Edit your title so that it includes the month and year of
the data in addition to “High Temperature vs Date”.

12.) Next click “vertical axis title” and add to the “title text” that is measured in
degrees Fahrenheit by adding at the end (oF).
13.) Your scatterplot should look like this:

14.) Complete steps 1-13 for the other three months.

15.) Be sure to copy these charts onto the google doc shared with you in the
appropriate spot.
Day 3: Adding Line of Best fit and R score

Goal: By the end of today you will have a computer-generated line of best fit for the
temperature data to compare to the one you did by hand.

Step-by-Step Directions:
1.) Open the google sheets that you used on Tuesday to make your scatterplots
2.) Double click on your scatterplot. The chart editor should pop-up.
3.) Switch the top section of the chart editor to customize.
4.) Click on “Series” and check the box next to trendline

5.) Make sure the type is linear. Under label change it from “none” to “use equation”. This
will cause the equation of the computer-generated line of best fit to be displayed.
6.) Last, check the box for “show R2”. This is a measurement we will learn more about
tomorrow.

7.) Complete these steps for each scatterplot.

8.) Copy the completed scatterplots to the appropriate section of your groups google doc.