In general, the larger a state’s population, the more the governor earns. Listed in the table below are the estimated 2008 populations (in millions) and the salary of the governor (in thousands of dollars) for eight randomly selected states.

a. Find the correlation coefficient. Do the data seem to fit a straight line?

b. Draw a scatterplot of the data. Compare this with your answer from part a.

c. Find the equation for the least squares line.

d. Based on your answer to part c, how much does a governor’s salary increase, on average, for each additional million in population?

e. Use your answer from part c to predict the governor’s salary in your state. Based on your answers from parts a and b, would this prediction be very accurate? Compare with the actual salary, as listed in an almanac or other reference.

f. (For the ambitious!) Find the correlation coefficient and least squares line using the data for all 50 states, as found in an almanac or other reference. Is the result in general agreement with the previous results?

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State AZ DE MD MA NY PA TN WY Population (x) 6.50 0.88 5.54 6.45 19.30 12.39 5.92 0.53 Governor's Salary (y) 95 133 150 141 179 170 160 105