Fill in the blanks.
a. One use of the linear correlation coefficient is as a descriptive measure of the strength of the _________relationship between two variables.
b. A positive linear relationship between two variables means that one variable tends to increase linearly as the other _________.
c. A value of r close to −1 suggests a strong _________linear relationship between the variables.
d. A value of r close to _________ suggests at most a weak linear relationship between the variables.