Negative correlation
Also called: Inverse relation · Topic: Economic Data: Census, NSS, Surveys and Statistical Tools · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Correlation"
Meaning
Negative correlation, or an inverse relation, means two variables move in opposite directions. When one rises, the other tends to fall. In Karl Pearson's coefficient, it shows up as a value of r below zero, down to −1. The closer r is to −1, the stronger the inverse link. On a scatter diagram (a graph of paired values), the points slope downward from left to right.
Example
When the price of apples rises, the quantity people demand falls. In a mandi, when large quantities of vegetables arrive, their price drops.
Don't confuse with
- Causation: a negative correlation shows only that the variables move oppositely. It does not prove that one causes the other.
- Zero correlation: r = 0 means no straight-line relation at all, not an inverse one.
Related concepts
- Measures of central tendency
- Arithmetic mean
- Weighted arithmetic mean
- Median
- Quartiles
- Decile
- Percentiles
- Mode
- Bimodal and multimodal distribution
- Modal class