A recent analysis of data for the 50 U.S. states on y = violent crime rate (measured as number of violent crimes per 100,000 people in the state) and x = poverty rate (percent of people in the state living at or below the poverty level) yielded the regression equation, ŷ = 209.9 + 25.5x.
a. Interpret the slope.
b. The state poverty rates ranged from 8.0 (for Hawaii) to 24.7 (for Mississippi). Over this range, find the range of predicted values for the violent crime rate.
c. Would the correlation between these variables be positive or negative? Why?