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August 26, 2016

#1725: Linear Regression explain

Linear Regression

[Two square panels show identical sets of scattered black dots, with only the red additions being different.]

[The left panel shows a slightly rising red line drawn through the middle of the panel, passing near a few dots but not obviously related to most of them. A red text is below the dots:]

R2=0.06

[The right panel shows many of the dots connected by red lines to form a stick figure of a man resembling the constellation Orion, with the hand on the reader’s right raised and holding an object. A red text is below the dots:]

Rexthor, the Dog-Bearer

[A caption is below and spanning both panels:]

I don’t trust linear regressions when it’s harder to guess the direction of the correlation from the scatter plot than to find new constellations on it.