Mr. Manoj has launched a new product in the market.

He has employed few numbers of salesperson for its

promotion. After few month he is in perplex whether to
increase the number of salesperson or to strikeout
some. Therefore, he wants to know if there is a
significant relationship between the total number of
salespeople and the total number of sales. He collected
data for five months.
Sales persons 2 3 5 4 6
Total Sales (in 3 4 7 6 10
’000)

Hint - Find ∑ d x. d y
 ∑ dx ∑ dy
∑ dx. dy -
r= N
( ∑ dx ) ( ∑ dy )
2 2

∑ dx 2
− ∑ dy 2
−
N N

( −5) × ( −5)
22 -
= 5
( −5 ) ( −5 )
2 2

15 − 35 −
5 5
 17
=
17.32

= .98

0.98 is near to 1. This means that there is high

degree of correlation between salespersons and total
sales. Therefore, Mr. Manoj should employ more
salespersons and continue the production of goods.
A company’s sales has gone down in the market due to
factors other than quality. The company owner, Mr. Patel
was in doubt that that there is lack of coordination between
his marketing and sales manager. Therefore, he asked the
two managers to rank its eight main suppliers (A, B, C, D, E,
F, G and H) taking into account factors such as volume
purchased, reliability etc. The two managers ranked
suppliers in order of preference as follows:
Marketing E C G H B D A F
manager

Sales E G B D C A H F
manager

Hint – Spearman’s rank correlation

 = 1 - 1.38

= - .38

- .38 is weak negative correlation. Mr. Patel’s doubt

was correct, his managers were not working in
tandem.
Mohan while calculation correlation coefficient
between two variables x and y for 25 pair of
observations obtained the following results:

∑ dx = 125, ∑ d y= 100, ∑ dx 2
= 650, ∑ = 4 6 0,∑ dxdy= 508
d y 2

On checking, it was found that he had wrongly

copied two numbers as 6 and 8 instead 8 and 6 in
“x” series and 14 and 6 instead of 12 and 8 in “y”
series. Calculate the correct correlation coefficient
between x and y.

Hint – Add correct value and

deduct the wrong value from
each observation
 Explanation

C orrect∑ dx = 125 −6 −8 8+ 6+ 125

=

C orrect∑ dy = 100 −14 6− 12

+ 8 + 100
=

C orrect ∑ dx2 = 650 −6 2 8− 2 8 +2 6 2+ 650

=

Correct∑ dy2 = 460 −14 2 6− 2 12+ 2 8 2+ 436=

C orrect∑ dxdy = 508 − 6 ( 14) ( )8− ( 6) ( ) 8 +( 12) ( )6 ( 8+) ( )520 =

Correct coefficientof correlation

∑dx∑ dy
∑dxdy -
r= N
( ∑dx∑
) (dy )
2 2
∑
∑dx −2
−
dy 2

N N

(125) ×(100)
520 −
= 25
( 125 ) ( )
2 2
100
650 − −
436
25 25
 520 −500
=
( 125 ) ( )
2 2
100
650 − −
436
25 25

20
=
( 125 ) ( )
2 2
100
650 − −
436
25 25

20
=
650 −625 436− 400
 20
=
25 36

20
=
30

r = .67
Spearman’s coefficient of rank correlation of marks
obtained by 7 students in Business studies and Economics
were found to be .09. Later it was discovered that the
difference in ranks in the two subjects obtained by one of
the student was wrongly taken as 6 instead of 3. Find the
correct value of the correlation coefficient.

Hint – Correct value of ∑D 2

 Explanation

Given ,
r =.09and N= 7

6 ∑D 2
rk = 1 -
N3 −N

6 ∑D 2
.09 = 1 -
73 −7

6 ∑D 2
1 −.09=
336
 .91 ×336
∑D2=
6

∑D2= 50. 96

Correct value of

∑D2= 50. 96
− 6+2 32

= 59 .96− 36

= 23 .96
Correct valueo f

6∑D 2
rk =1−
N 3 −N

(6)( 23.96)
=1−
336

143 .76
=1−
336

=1− .43

= 0.57
A report on leadership ability and a good orator was
submitted to the editor of a newspaper by a journalist. The
journalist gave detailed report about the procedure of the
survey. He finds correlation r = 1/2 and ∑D = 82 .5 .
2

Unfortunately he slip out the number of observations but

the editor wants the number of observations also.

Hint – Spearman's
rank correlation
 Explanation
We have,

6 ∑D 2
rk = 1 - ,
N −N
3

1 ( 5. )
6 82
=1-
2 N3 −N

495 1
=1−
N −N
3
2

495 1
=
N3 −N 2
N 3 −N = 990

Factorise N 3
−
N

(N −1)(N)(N+ 1=
) ×9 10
× 11

N =10
10 competitors participated in poem recitation
competition. Three judges judge the competition and
ranked them. Which pair of judges has a common
taste?
1st Judge 10 6 5 4 7 9 8 2 1 3
2st Judge 4 8 7 6 5 9 10 3 2 1
3st Judge 6 7 8 1 5 10 9 2 3 4

Hint – Compare the correlation

between the judges.
 Explanation

1st 2st 3st D12 D13 D2,3 D212 D213 D223

Judge Judge Judge
10 4 6 6 4 -2 36 16 4
6 8 7 -2 -1 1 4 1 1
5 7 8 -2 -3 -1 4 9 1
4 6 1 -2 3 5 4 9 25
7 5 5 2 2 0 4 4 0
9 9 10 0 -1 -1 0 1 1
8 10 9 -2 -1 1 4 1 1
2 3 2 -1 0 1 1 0 1
1 2 3 -1 -2 -1 1 4 1
3 1 4 2 -1 -3 4 1 9

∑D 2
1,2
= 62 ∑ D 2 1,3 = 46 ∑D 2
2,3
= 44
Here,

D1,2 = Rank difference between 1st and 2nd judge

D1,3 = Rank difference between 1st and 3rd judge

D2,3 = Rank difference between 2nd and 3rd judge

 Spearman’s correlation of rank coefficient
between rankings given by
6∑D
2
1,2
1st and 2nd judge r1,2 = 1 -
N3 − N

6 × 62
=1-
10 − 10
3

372
=1-
990

990 − 372 618

= = = .62
990 990
 Spearman’s correlation of rank coefficient
between rankings given by

6∑D
2
1,3
1st and 3rd judge r1,3 = 1 -
N3 − N

6 × 46
r1,3 = 1 -
10 − 10
3

276
=1-
990

990 − 276
= = 0.72
990
 Spearman’s correlation of rank coefficient
between rankings given by

6∑D
2
2,3
2nd and 3rd judge r2,3 = 1 -
N3 − N

6 × 44
r2,3 = 1 -
103 − 10

264
=1-
990

990 − 264
=1- = 0.73
990
Since, r2,3 is maximum, we can conclude that there
is a good deal of concurrence in the judgment of 2nd
and 3rd judge.
Two teachers examined answer books of 5 students
in mathematics and statistics and awarded them the
following marks. What conclusion you will draw from
the data.

Mathematics 60 60 50 45 40

Statistics 70 70 70 60 60

Hint – Rank correlation

 Explanation

Mathematics Rank Statistics Rank D D2

(R1) (R2)

60 1.5 70 2 -.5 .25

60 1.5 70 2 -.5 .25
50 3 70 2 1 1
45 4 60 4.5 -.5 .25
40 5 60 4.5 .5 .25
∑D2=2
  1 1 1 
6  ∑ D + (m1 − m1 ) + (m2 − m2 ) + (m33 − m3 )
2 3 3

 12 12 12 
rk = 1 -
N3 − N

Here,
m = n umber of items of equal ranks

N =5

 1 3 1 3 1 3 
6  2 + (3 − 3) + ( 2 − 2) + ( 2 − 2)
 12 12 12 
rk = 1 -
53 − 5

 1 1 1 
6  2 + ( 24) + (6) + (6)
12 12 12 
=1- 
125 − 5
 6 ( 2 + 2 + 0.5 + 0.5)
rk =1 −
120

30
=1 −
120

=1 − .25

= 0.75

This is a case of strong relationship. It indicates that

those who are good in mathematics are also strong in
statistics.
The new football coach was looking at the height
and weight chart of player’s. After looking at the
chart, what conclusion he had come?

Height (inches) 62 72 70 67 70 64 65

Weight (Kg) 50 55 63 66 60 59 58

Hint – Karl Pearson

 ∑ d x ∑d y
∑ d x. d y −
r= N
( ∑− d x) (d y2 ∑ )
2 2
dy ∑
∑ dx 2
−
N N

( 1 )× ( − 5 0 )
1 9 4−
= 7
(1 )2 − ( 5 0 )2
8 1− 514 −
7 7
 3 4 .8 5
=
1 1 4 .8 9

= .3 0

The new coach finds that there is a positive correlation

between player’s weight and their weight. In other words,
the taller a player, the more tends to be their weight.
The correlation is one of the most common and useful
tool in statistics. It is a single number that describes the
degree of relationship between two variables. But, even a
high degree of correlation does not mean that a
relationship of cause and effect exists between two
correlated variables. Comment.

Hint – Correlation measures

intensity of relationship
 Explanation

Even a high degree of correlation does not mean that a

relationship of cause and effect exists between two
correlated variables.

For example, correlation between number of hours students

use computer to study and their marks in exam. It is not
necessary that computer users score more marks. Other
factors, like socioeconomic status might also play a vital
role. Thus there is no cause and effect relationship.