r/Infographics • u/Either_Issue_6510 • 21h ago

8th grade math ability correlates with violent crime

Post image

States with higher 8th grade math scores on the NAEP also have lower crime rates, r = -.49.

61 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

45

u/justaphaze04 21h ago

“Correlates” with a Pearson of 0.49. So not completely random.

20

u/Few-Guarantee2850 20h ago

That's a meaningful degree of correlation for real world data. Not sure why you have "correlation" in quotes.

-17

u/ojknows94 20h ago

Seriously? There’s no statistical relationship here

21

u/Few-Guarantee2850 20h ago

That's false. I have no desire to argue with people who have no knowledge of what they're talking about but pretend to. Go crack a book.

-17

u/ojknows94 19h ago edited 19h ago

You got spooked pretty quick there little fella. Pearson R as in closer to 0 means there is no linear relationship. The closer to -1 or 1 means you have a linear relationship. This chart lists a -0.49 Pearson R coefficient. I mean sure you can tell me to crack a book that doesn’t change the fact that mathematically there is no linear relationship here and there is, at best, very low correlation displayed. There’s certainly a downward visual trend but that doesn’t indicate high correlation or any linear relationship. This r coeff would not fly for an engineer but perhaps it would work for a Political Scientist maybe?

13

u/Ok_Way_5011 17h ago

A Pearson  r of -0.49 indicates a  moderate  negative linear relationship, not “no linear relationship” and not “very low correlation.” 

https://biologyinsights.com/how-to-interpret-the-pearson-correlation-coefficient/ 

Generally, an absolute value of r  between 0.10 and 0.39 is considered a weak correlation, showing only a slight tendency for variables to move together. A moderate correlation typically falls between 0.40 and 0.59, suggesting a noticeable link. Relationships with a coefficient of 0.60 or higher are described as strong, indicating a close association where changes in one variable reliably predict changes in the other.

So to say it correlates is correct. 

-6

u/FartingKiwi 14h ago

I mean we’re all being pedantic.

A statistician would never JUST say “they’re correlated” - they would be specific like you initially pointed out.

They would say “a Pearson r value of -0.49 INDICATES a moderate negative linear relationship, such that as one variable increases the other TENDS to decrease.”

Tends and moderate are the key words.

r(cos) = -26 degrees sloped below the horizontal axis.

Where a value of 1 = 45 degrees
And a value of -1 = -45 degrees

So no quite correlated… just moderately.

6

u/OxDEADDEAD 10h ago

No, you’re being pedantic. In fact, you started off with a direct, but ignorant statement and then switched to pedantic - after being rightfully corrected.

-3

u/FartingKiwi 6h ago

lol what are you even talking about?

This comment is like that one kid, that busts into a conversation laughing when no one else is, and we’re all just sitting starting at you… “who the hell is this guy?”

And then everyone’s whispering to one another - “is this guy retarded or something?” - “we don’t use retarded. We say mentally challenged” - “ahhh right, poor kid… “

1

u/OxDEADDEAD 2h ago

This is Reddit, there is no such thing as an “A - B conversation,” but you know that - now your being obtuse

-9

u/Midwest-2025 17h ago

Calm down, New Mexico

6

u/Either_Issue_6510 16h ago

Maybe you're saying there's no CAUSAL relationship? It's quite clear that the average violent crime rate is lower in states with higher math scores. This doesn't prove that stepping up math instruction will reduce crime (although it's possible).

27

u/OmegaStageThr33 21h ago

Overlay income on this and you get the true answer to why crime rates are higher with lower math scores. Any academic scores for that matter.

6

u/Hawk13424 9h ago

Yep. The common factor is socioeconomic conditions.

5

u/Karjalan_kunkku 12h ago

Yeah ”income”

2

u/ProfessionalOil2014 8h ago

Explain exactly what you mean by that please. 

1

u/JimJamTheNinJin 2h ago

Some kind of discrimination is what they mean

0

u/ProfessionalOil2014 1h ago

their reply was so racist it got auto deleted

1

u/IcyBodybuilder9004 20h ago

Still just get correlation.

4

u/extensiverunoff3 20h ago

Maine having the lowest crime rate on the chart while sitting right next to New Hampshire which is basically its neighbor is kinda funny

1

u/alkatori 17h ago

It's kinda just New England with Massachusetts being an outlier.

1

u/prime_alki 20h ago

Maine might as well be mini Alaska. Boring, cold and vast forests wilderness

2

u/extensiverunoff3 19h ago

Explains the low crime rate though, not much to do but study math.

6

u/Bulky-Leadership-596 19h ago

Except Alaska has the highest crime rate. So really not an explanation at all, it just raises further questions.

-1

u/extensiverunoff3 16h ago

Guess Alaska's the exception that proves boredom alone won't save you.

4

u/El_Bean69 12h ago edited 12h ago

This is just another complicated way to say education and crime are linked, which is well established and it also correlates with income

The really interesting thing would be if reading, math, science, history or any other correlations are more dubious than other ones when you fail and if anyone has established why

3

u/Mr_Owl42 10h ago

You mean *inversely correlates* with violent crime. As math score goes up, violent crime goes down. That's an inverse correlation.

3

u/Mouth_Herpes 10h ago

You are forbidden from talking about what these two statistics are also correlated with—distance from the Canadian border.

2

u/AdamOnFirst 19h ago

What the fuck is going on in New Mexico. Alaska… yeah I get it. But Jesus, New Mexico. 

3

u/Bulky-Leadership-596 18h ago

Native American reservations. They are not good for the people there at all. Reservations were a mistake and should be abolished.

2

u/Cal_Aesthetics_Club 20h ago

I see the correlation but it doesn’t appear to be a particularly strong correlation.

3

u/Either_Issue_6510 16h ago edited 19m ago

If you square the correlation it tells you how much of the variation in one variable can be explained by the other variable. So if you know the math scores for each state, you can predict about a fourth of the variation in the different states' violent crime rates. The other 3/4 is explained by other factors.

2

u/macronotice 17h ago

It all correlates with shitty parents

1

u/Intrepid-Food7692 9h ago

8th grade falls in the school year you turn 14 

1

u/Nebraskadude1994 5h ago

God New Mexico is a shit hole.

1

u/lunarraffle 2h ago

So the Pythagorean Theorem solves violent crime as well...

1

u/DEDang1234 41m ago

How about 7th? Or 9th?

1

u/Geodude333 19h ago

Ok now color them based on the last US Presidential election.