Graphing Scatter Plots

Date: 09/26/98 at 19:43:21
From: Alice 
Subject: Math Graphing (Scatter Plot)

How do I make a scatter plot for boys and girls height and shoe size? 
Also, how can I make a graph online?

Date: 09/26/98 at 20:50:08
From: Doctor Pat
Subject: Re: Math Graphing (Scatter Plot)

Alice, 
 
A scatter plot is simple: make a table for each person, showing height 
and shoe size in columns marked x and y. Then on a piece of graph paper 
go over x units to the right of zero, and y units up, and make a point.  

Do this for the next person's data also. When you have done this for 
every person, you will get a graph that will show any pattern between 
height and shoe size. (I would assume that, in general, taller people 
will have bigger feet, although this will not be a perfect line 
relation. I may be taller than you and have smaller feet, but we are 
probably both taller and have bigger feet than a four-year-old).  

You can find a little more about scatter plots if you look at HyperStat 
Online, David Lane's introductory level hypertext statistics book:

   http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/   

This site has a glossary at the top; click on it and then scroll down 
to the term you want and click to learn more.  

To draw a scatter plot on-line, you have to be patient and use ascii 
graphs. Here is what a scatter plot might look like:


   s |                *  
   h |                            * 
   o |                *    ** 
   e |                 *    *
     |                   *
   s |              ***
   i |           *  *
   z |         *   *
   e |     *
     |______________________________________
                   height

where height is the x-value and shoe size is the y-value.  

Hope this helps. Good luck,

- Doctor Pat, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/