Question

If high scores on X are paired with high scores on Y, the covariance is going to be:

	a.	negative
	b.	zero
	c.	positive
	d.	there is no way to tell

Answer 1

If high scores on X are paired with high scores on Y, the covariance is going to be:

- C. Positive

Reason being, for two variables X and Y, their Covariance (XY) is a function of the standard deviations of X and Y

- If high scores on X tend to be paired with high scores on Y, the covariance will be large and positive.
- If high scores on X tend to be paired with low scores on Y, the covariance will be large and negative.
- If high scores on X are paired about equally often with both high and low scores on Y then the covariance will be approximately zero.