Florida has over 7700 lakes. We wish to estimate the correlation between the pH levels of all Florida lakes and the mercury levels of fish in the lakes. We see in Data 2.4 on page 68 that the correlation between these two variables for a sample of n = 53 of the lakes is −0.575.
(a) Give notation for the quantity we are estimating, notation for the quantity we use to make the estimate, and the value of the best estimate.
(b) Why is an estimate necessary here? What would we have to do to calculate the exact value of the quantity we are estimating?