Psudo on politics
US Population vs. Murders
Population has a strong correlation (92%) to the number of murders that occur. That's why so many statistics are given "per capita" or "per 100,000 population" -- it's well-known that unless you remove the strong correlation of population from a set of data, you can't see other relationships behind it.
This same data shown as a murder rate instead of murder totals can be seen here:
flickr.com/photos/91128695@N07/8286069791/
It is also offered as an extreme contrast to the other, far weaker correlations in other charts. The strong correlation means this data is actually about the relationship between total population and total murders. The weak correlations in other charts show that the trends in that data are about something else, that they are clouded by other unspecified and, often, unknown factors.
US Population vs. Murders
Population has a strong correlation (92%) to the number of murders that occur. That's why so many statistics are given "per capita" or "per 100,000 population" -- it's well-known that unless you remove the strong correlation of population from a set of data, you can't see other relationships behind it.
This same data shown as a murder rate instead of murder totals can be seen here:
flickr.com/photos/91128695@N07/8286069791/
It is also offered as an extreme contrast to the other, far weaker correlations in other charts. The strong correlation means this data is actually about the relationship between total population and total murders. The weak correlations in other charts show that the trends in that data are about something else, that they are clouded by other unspecified and, often, unknown factors.