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Spurious correlation #2,751 · View random

A linear line chart with years as the X-axis and two variables on the Y-axis. The first variable is Ticket sales for Houston Astros games and the second variable is Instructor salaries in the US.  The chart goes from 2009 to 2019, and the two variables track closely in value over that time. Small Image
Download png
, svg

AI explanation

The Astros' stellar performance got fans so interested in the physics of a home run that they all decided to take up baseball instruction as a side hustle, creating high demand for instructors and driving up salaries across the country. Who knew that the key to boosting educational wages was hiding in the outfield all along?

Model: dalle-3
Prompt: Generate an image of a vibrant and electrifying scene unfolding in a bustling stadium. Capture the enthusiastic energy of devoted Houston Astros fans as they crowd the merchandise stands, decked out in team jerseys and caps. Show the fervent buzz of activity around the vendors as the crowd eagerly purchases their favorite team gear. Additionally, include a cluster of instructors earnestly conducting training sessions with dedicated focus, symbolizing the surge in employment and improved salaries for instructors across the nation. Ensure that the image conveys the palpable excitement emanating from the fans and the determined determination of the instructors, embodying the escalating demand for merchandise and skilled instructors and the subsequent rise in ticket sales and instructor wages. The depiction should include only scenes, people, and objects, it should not include text or speech bubbles.
This image generation prompt was also generated by AI, using the following sequence:

Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You select one of a few potential scene descriptors that seems to go along with the variables described. You respond only with the scene descriptions provided and say nothing else.
User prompt: Here are two variables: Ticket sales for Houston Astros games and Instructor salaries in the US. Given these, which of the following image style descriptions seems most appropriate? Pick the one that seems to be related to one of the variables at hand. Please respond with only one of the following potential descriptions: A TIME magazine cover image Hyper-realistic a Polaroid photo Sci-fi fantacy Steampunk
ChatGPT: A TIME magazine cover image

Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You describe simple visual scenes that depict the two variables stated. You combine both variables into one scene.
User prompt: Please describe a visual scene that prominently depicts both Ticket sales for Houston Astros games and Instructor salaries in the US, in the following situation: As Houston Astros ticket sales soar, more fans are 'pitching' in for merchandise, increasing demand for instructors to 'coach' new employees. This 'home run' for the economy drives up salaries as companies scramble to 'catch' the best talent.. Keep the description simple.
ChatGPT: In a bustling stadium, fans clad in Houston Astros gear line up at merchandise stands, eagerly purchasing caps and jerseys. Nearby, a group of instructors huddle together, guiding new employees through training sessions with focused determination. The energy is palpable as the demand for merchandise and skilled instructors rises, reflecting the surge in ticket sales and the corresponding increase in instructor salaries across the US.

Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You write and improve image generation prompts for DALLE-3. You maintain the same subjects, but enhance the visuals.
User prompt: Please respond with an image generation prompt that would be likely to create an interesting visual using DALLE-3, using the following style: [ A TIME magazine cover image ] and depicting this scene: In a bustling stadium, fans clad in Houston Astros gear line up at merchandise stands, eagerly purchasing caps and jerseys. Nearby, a group of instructors huddle together, guiding new employees through training sessions with focused determination. The energy is palpable as the demand for merchandise and skilled instructors rises, reflecting the surge in ticket sales and the corresponding increase in instructor salaries across the US. Keep the visual depiction simple. Do not include any words or speech bubbles.
ChatGPT: Generate an image of a vibrant and electrifying scene unfolding in a bustling stadium. Capture the enthusiastic energy of devoted Houston Astros fans as they crowd the merchandise stands, decked out in team jerseys and caps. Show the fervent buzz of activity around the vendors as the crowd eagerly purchases their favorite team gear. Additionally, include a cluster of instructors earnestly conducting training sessions with dedicated focus, symbolizing the surge in employment and improved salaries for instructors across the nation. Ensure that the image conveys the palpable excitement emanating from the fans and the determined determination of the instructors, embodying the escalating demand for merchandise and skilled instructors and the subsequent rise in ticket sales and instructor wages.

*Variations in the User Prompts from chart to chart are just the result of random number generation in Python. I wrote a few arrays of various styles and methods to ask questions to change up the results. Every time this site writes an explanation or generates an image, the script picks from each at random.

I sequence the requests into multiple prompts because I find GPT 3.5 to perform much better with short, well-managed contexts. Thus, I track the context directly in Python and only ask ChatGPT targeted questions.

Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106 (fine-tuned)
System prompt: You provide humorous responses in the form of plausible sounding explanations for correlations. You assume the correlation is causative for the purpose of the explanation even if it is ridiculous. You do not chat with the user, you only reply with the causal connection explanation and nothing else.
User prompt: Please make up a funny explanation for how an increase in Ticket sales for Houston Astros games caused Instructor salaries in the US to increase.

AI academic paper

(Because p < 0.01)
The Ballpark of Instructor Salaries: A Correlative Study of Houston Astros Ticket Sales and Educator Compensation

The Journal of Sports Economics and Education Policy

Jan 2024

Reminder: This paper is AI-generated. Not real!
Quick note: This sequence is long and repetitive. That's how the prompt engineering works for this one. I manage the output in Python to format it into this PDF.




Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You write titles and abstracts of goofy academic research papers.
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, and add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please draft the title and abstract of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between Ticket sales for Houston Astros games and Instructor salaries in the US. Make it seem dry like academic research paper, but with lots of subtle hidden offhand remarks, jokes, goofy observations, and puns.

Make the title a clever pun.

Your research team used data from Baseball-Reference.com and National Center for Education Statistics to assess this nagging question. You found a correlation coefficient of 0.9623896 and p < 0.01 for 2009 to 2019.

Please respond in this format (replace "Lorem ipsum dolor sit" with your title and abstract)

[[TITLE]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit

[[ABSTRACT]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit



ChatGPT:
[[TITLE]]
The Ballpark of Instructor Salaries: A Correlative Study of Houston Astros Ticket Sales and Educator Compensation

[[ABSTRACT]]
This study delves into the peculiar relationship between the ticket sales of the acclaimed Houston Astros baseball team and the salaries of educators across the United States. Through meticulous data analysis utilizing sources such as Baseball-Reference.com and the hallowed National Center for Education Statistics, we sought to uncover any link between these seemingly disparate domains. Our findings remarkably revealed a robust correlation coefficient of 0.9623896 and p < 0.01 for the years 2009 to 2019, suggesting a rather intriguing interplay between the hallowed bleachers and the hallowed halls of academia. As we aim to shed light on this unexpected association, we also hope to strike home with the notion that statistical analysis can, indeed, be a home run in uncovering the more amusive intricacies of societal phenomena.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You draft the introduction section of an academic research paper.
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, or add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please make up the introduction section of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between Ticket sales for Houston Astros games and Instructor salaries in the US. Make it seem dry like academic research paper, but with lots of subtle hidden offhand remarks, jokes, goofy observations, and puns.

Here is the title and abstract of the paper:
[[TITLE]]
The Ballpark of Instructor Salaries: A Correlative Study of Houston Astros Ticket Sales and Educator Compensation

[[ABSTRACT]]
This study delves into the peculiar relationship between the ticket sales of the acclaimed Houston Astros baseball team and the salaries of educators across the United States. Through meticulous data analysis utilizing sources such as Baseball-Reference.com and the hallowed National Center for Education Statistics, we sought to uncover any link between these seemingly disparate domains. Our findings remarkably revealed a robust correlation coefficient of 0.9623896 and p < 0.01 for the years 2009 to 2019, suggesting a rather intriguing interplay between the hallowed bleachers and the hallowed halls of academia. As we aim to shed light on this unexpected association, we also hope to strike home with the notion that statistical analysis can, indeed, be a home run in uncovering the more amusive intricacies of societal phenomena.

-------

Your response should start like this:

[[INTRODUCTION]]



ChatGPT:
[[INTRODUCTION]]

The intersection of sports and academia is not often explored, but as the saying goes, "It's statistically significant until proven otherwise." In this paper, we embark on an empirical journey to unravel the enigmatic relationship between the attendance figures at Houston Astros games and the compensation of educators across America. It seems like comparing apples to oranges, or perhaps baseballs to blackboards, but stranger things have been statistically associated.

Education and baseball have long been considered disparate sectors, yet an inquisitive mind cannot help but wonder if there's more to it than meets the eye. Our study seeks to fill this intellectual void by probing the substantial correlation between these seemingly divergent domains. The Astros, known for their prowess on the diamond, inadvertently find themselves entangled in the complex web of educator salaries. The irony is palpable, much like a poorly executed bunt.

While one might initially argue that the correlation may be a mere statistical fluke, our preliminary investigations hint at a more substantial connection. As the old adage goes, "where there's smoke, there's fire." With a correlation coefficient that could nearly hit a home run by itself, and a p-value so low it would make a finance professor envious, the data paints an intriguing picture – a picture of baseball fans and educators marching to the same beat, or at least sitting in the same stands.

As we embark upon this statistical expedition, we aim to not only uncover the underlying patterns but also to shed light on the ever-entertaining world of statistical analysis. So, grab your calculators and baseball caps, dear readers, as we dive into this delightfully peculiar correlation. After all, in the words of Yogi Berra, "It's like déjà vu all over again." Thus, without further ado, let's step up to the plate and swing for the fences in our quest for understanding this curious crosstown connection.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You draft a literature review section of an academic research paper, that starts out dry for the first few sentences but then becomes hilarious and goofy.
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, or add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please make up a literature review section of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between Ticket sales for Houston Astros games and Instructor salaries in the US. Make it seem dry like academic research paper, but with lots of subtle hidden offhand remarks, jokes, goofy observations, and puns.

Speak in the present tense for this section (the authors find...), as is common in academic research paper literature reviews. Name the sources in a format similar to this: In "Book," the authors find lorem and ipsum.

Make up the lorem and ipsum part, but make it sound related to the topic at hand.

Start by naming serious-sounding studies by authors like Smith, Doe, and Jones - but then quickly devolve. Name some real non-fiction books that would be related to the topic. Then name some real fiction books that sound like they could be related. Then cite some social media posts you read that seem to be related.

Here is the title and abstract of the paper:
[[TITLE]]
The Ballpark of Instructor Salaries: A Correlative Study of Houston Astros Ticket Sales and Educator Compensation

[[ABSTRACT]]
This study delves into the peculiar relationship between the ticket sales of the acclaimed Houston Astros baseball team and the salaries of educators across the United States. Through meticulous data analysis utilizing sources such as Baseball-Reference.com and the hallowed National Center for Education Statistics, we sought to uncover any link between these seemingly disparate domains. Our findings remarkably revealed a robust correlation coefficient of 0.9623896 and p < 0.01 for the years 2009 to 2019, suggesting a rather intriguing interplay between the hallowed bleachers and the hallowed halls of academia. As we aim to shed light on this unexpected association, we also hope to strike home with the notion that statistical analysis can, indeed, be a home run in uncovering the more amusive intricacies of societal phenomena.

-------

And here is the introduction section that led to this literature review:
[[INTRODUCTION]]
The intersection of sports and academia is not often explored, but as the saying goes, "It's statistically significant until proven otherwise." In this paper, we embark on an empirical journey to unravel the enigmatic relationship between the attendance figures at Houston Astros games and the compensation of educators across America. It seems like comparing apples to oranges, or perhaps baseballs to blackboards, but stranger things have been statistically associated.
Education and baseball have long been considered disparate sectors, yet an inquisitive mind cannot help but wonder if there's more to it than meets the eye. Our study seeks to fill this intellectual void by probing the substantial correlation between these seemingly divergent domains. The Astros, known for their prowess on the diamond, inadvertently find themselves entangled in the complex web of educator salaries. The irony is palpable, much like a poorly executed bunt.
While one might initially argue that the correlation may be a mere statistical fluke, our preliminary investigations hint at a more substantial connection. As the old adage goes, "where there's smoke, there's fire." With a correlation coefficient that could nearly hit a home run by itself, and a p-value so low it would make a finance professor envious, the data paints an intriguing picture – a picture of baseball fans and educators marching to the same beat, or at least sitting in the same stands.
As we embark upon this statistical expedition, we aim to not only uncover the underlying patterns but also to shed light on the ever-entertaining world of statistical analysis. So, grab your calculators and baseball caps, dear readers, as we dive into this delightfully peculiar correlation. After all, in the words of Yogi Berra, "It's like déjà vu all over again." Thus, without further ado, let's step up to the plate and swing for the fences in our quest for understanding this curious crosstown connection.

-------

Your response should start like this:

[[LITERATURE REVIEW]]



ChatGPT:
[[LITERATURE REVIEW]]

The literature surrounding the interconnected realms of sports attendance and educator compensation presents a dichotomous blend of research, ranging from the rigorously empirical to the utterly whimsical. Smith et al. in "The Economics of Sports: Game Theory and Ticket Sales" present a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of sports attendance, delving into economic factors such as ticket pricing, team performance, and even socio-demographic variables. Their meticulous dissection of the intricacies of sports attendance provides a sturdy foundation for understanding the dynamics at play in our own investigation. Meanwhile, Doe's "Educator Salaries: Trends and Implications" offers a clinically thorough exploration of the factors influencing educator compensation, with a sharp focus on the impact of funding, educational policy, and labor market trends.

As we traverse further into the literature, we encounter a more unconventional trove of insights. Jones and colleagues, in their seminal work "Baseball Bats and Brainiacs: Exploring the Unlikely Correlations of Leisure and Learning," take a delightfully unorthodox approach by musing on the potential interplay between leisure activities, such as baseball spectating, and cognitive development. While not directly addressing educator salaries, their whimsical contemplations serve as a gentle reminder of the unanticipated relationships that may emerge in the labyrinth of statistical analysis.

Turning to more unconventional sources, non-fiction works such as "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game" by Michael Lewis and "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner offer provocative insights into the statistical underpinnings of sports and societal phenomena. In a more whimsical turn, fictional literature such as "The Art of Fielding" by Chad Harbach and "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt, although not directly related to our study, serve as a lighthearted reminder of the unpredictable intersections that exist between academia and leisure pursuits.

In a surprising twist, recent social media posts have also hinted at connections between baseball enthusiasm and educational fervor. One tweet, bearing the hashtag #BaseballandBooks, joyfully proclaimed, "Just like a well-crafted curveball, education can keep you on your toes! Let's hit those textbooks out of the park, students!" While not a rigorously empirical source, such online musings serve as testament to the pervasive, if not slightly fantastical, integration of sports and education in the public consciousness.

As we meander through this colorful array of scholarly endeavors, fictional musings, and digital reveries, we are reminded that statistical analysis, much like a curveball, can yield unexpected twists and turns. With a cheeky wink to the unpredictability of scholarly pursuits, we forge ahead in our quest to unravel the perplexing link between Houston Astros ticket sales and educator compensation. Let the games begin!



Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You draft the methodology section of an academic research paper.
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, or add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please make up the methodology section of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between Ticket sales for Houston Astros games and Instructor salaries in the US. Make it seem dry like academic research paper, but with lots of subtle hidden offhand remarks, jokes, goofy observations, and puns.

Your research team collected data from all across the internet, but mostly just used information from Baseball-Reference.com and National Center for Education Statistics . You used data from 2009 to 2019

Make up the research methods you don't know. Make them a bit goofy and convoluted.

Here is the title, abstract, and introduction of the paper:
[[TITLE]]
The Ballpark of Instructor Salaries: A Correlative Study of Houston Astros Ticket Sales and Educator Compensation

[[ABSTRACT]]
This study delves into the peculiar relationship between the ticket sales of the acclaimed Houston Astros baseball team and the salaries of educators across the United States. Through meticulous data analysis utilizing sources such as Baseball-Reference.com and the hallowed National Center for Education Statistics, we sought to uncover any link between these seemingly disparate domains. Our findings remarkably revealed a robust correlation coefficient of 0.9623896 and p < 0.01 for the years 2009 to 2019, suggesting a rather intriguing interplay between the hallowed bleachers and the hallowed halls of academia. As we aim to shed light on this unexpected association, we also hope to strike home with the notion that statistical analysis can, indeed, be a home run in uncovering the more amusive intricacies of societal phenomena.

[[INTRODUCTION]]
The intersection of sports and academia is not often explored, but as the saying goes, "It's statistically significant until proven otherwise." In this paper, we embark on an empirical journey to unravel the enigmatic relationship between the attendance figures at Houston Astros games and the compensation of educators across America. It seems like comparing apples to oranges, or perhaps baseballs to blackboards, but stranger things have been statistically associated.
Education and baseball have long been considered disparate sectors, yet an inquisitive mind cannot help but wonder if there's more to it than meets the eye. Our study seeks to fill this intellectual void by probing the substantial correlation between these seemingly divergent domains. The Astros, known for their prowess on the diamond, inadvertently find themselves entangled in the complex web of educator salaries. The irony is palpable, much like a poorly executed bunt.
While one might initially argue that the correlation may be a mere statistical fluke, our preliminary investigations hint at a more substantial connection. As the old adage goes, "where there's smoke, there's fire." With a correlation coefficient that could nearly hit a home run by itself, and a p-value so low it would make a finance professor envious, the data paints an intriguing picture – a picture of baseball fans and educators marching to the same beat, or at least sitting in the same stands.
As we embark upon this statistical expedition, we aim to not only uncover the underlying patterns but also to shed light on the ever-entertaining world of statistical analysis. So, grab your calculators and baseball caps, dear readers, as we dive into this delightfully peculiar correlation. After all, in the words of Yogi Berra, "It's like déjà vu all over again." Thus, without further ado, let's step up to the plate and swing for the fences in our quest for understanding this curious crosstown connection.

-------

Your response should start like this:

[[METHODOLOGY]]



ChatGPT:

[[METHODOLOGY]]

In the pursuit of unraveling the intriguing relationship between the ticket sales of the esteemed Houston Astros baseball team and the recompense of educators across the expanse of the United States, a robust methodology was conceived. The data utilized in this study were sourced from the hallowed archives of Baseball-Reference.com and the venerable National Center for Education Statistics. The chosen time frame for data collection spans from 2009 to 2019, a period characterized by significant fluctuations in both the sports and education sectors, mirroring the ebb and flow of the tide in a compelling dance of statistical significance.

To commence this statistical tango, ticket sales data for Houston Astros games were meticulously extracted from Baseball-Reference.com. This data, encapsulating the attendance figures and other pertinent metrics, provided a comprehensive portrayal of the ebbs and flows of spectatorship at the Astros' illustrious ballpark. This intricate dataset, akin to a finely pitched curveball, was then subjected to rigorous cleansing and transformation processes to ensure its fidelity and compatibility with the ensuing statistical analyses.

Concurrently, the compensation of educators across the United States was gleaned from the expansive repository of the National Center for Education Statistics. This trove of information, akin to a treasure chest of pedagogical pecuniary prudence, furnished exhaustive details concerning the salaries of instructors in various educational institutions nationwide. These data, capturing the remuneration dynamics within the diverse corridors of academe, were meticulously cataloged and harmonized for inclusion in the grand tapestry of our statistical study.

Following the assembly of these disparate yet intricately interwoven datasets, a noble effort was made to navigate the labyrinth of statistical analyses, peppered with intricacies and complexities akin to the knuckleball of research methodologies. The trove of data was subjected to a series of robust statistical analyses, including but not limited to correlation coefficient computations, regression analyses, and exploratory data visualizations. These analytical maneuvers were undertaken with the vigilance of an umpire scrutinizing a close call, ensuring the integrity and transparency of the subsequent findings.

It is imperative to note that, amidst the whirlwind of statistical escapades, every effort was made to meticulously control for potential confounding variables and extraneous influences that may have sought to bunt our study off course. The employment of sophisticated statistical techniques culminated in the extraction of a robust correlation coefficient, a testament to the enigmatic interplay between the hallowed bleachers and the esteemed halls of academia.

In essence, the methodology adopted in this endeavor mirrors the art of a well-executed double play, where meticulous data extraction, exhaustive statistical analyses, and the harmonization of disparate datasets culminate in a captivating display of statistical acumen. This approach, akin to a well-orchestrated symphony, underscores the rigorous pursuit of uncovering the intriguing correlation between Houston Astros ticket sales and educator salaries while infusing a subtle touch of statistical whimsy into the scintillating tapestry of academia and athletics.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You draft the results section of an academic research paper. You speak in the past tense (you found...).
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, or add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please make up the results section of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between Ticket sales for Houston Astros games and Instructor salaries in the US. Make it seem dry like academic research paper, but with lots of subtle hidden offhand remarks, jokes, goofy observations, and puns.

Your research team collected data from all across the internet, but mostly just used information from Baseball-Reference.com and National Center for Education Statistics .

For the time period 2009 to 2019, you found a correlation 0.9623896, r-squared of 0.9261938, and p < 0.01.

One figure will be included. The figure (Fig. 1) is a scatterplot showing the strong correlation between the two variables. You don't need to specify where; I will add the figure.

Here is the title and abstract of the paper:
[[TITLE]]
The Ballpark of Instructor Salaries: A Correlative Study of Houston Astros Ticket Sales and Educator Compensation

[[ABSTRACT]]
This study delves into the peculiar relationship between the ticket sales of the acclaimed Houston Astros baseball team and the salaries of educators across the United States. Through meticulous data analysis utilizing sources such as Baseball-Reference.com and the hallowed National Center for Education Statistics, we sought to uncover any link between these seemingly disparate domains. Our findings remarkably revealed a robust correlation coefficient of 0.9623896 and p < 0.01 for the years 2009 to 2019, suggesting a rather intriguing interplay between the hallowed bleachers and the hallowed halls of academia. As we aim to shed light on this unexpected association, we also hope to strike home with the notion that statistical analysis can, indeed, be a home run in uncovering the more amusive intricacies of societal phenomena.

-------

And here is the methodology section that led to this result:
[[METHODOLOGY]]
The intersection of sports and academia is not often explored, but as the saying goes, "It's statistically significant until proven otherwise." In this paper, we embark on an empirical journey to unravel the enigmatic relationship between the attendance figures at Houston Astros games and the compensation of educators across America. It seems like comparing apples to oranges, or perhaps baseballs to blackboards, but stranger things have been statistically associated.
Education and baseball have long been considered disparate sectors, yet an inquisitive mind cannot help but wonder if there's more to it than meets the eye. Our study seeks to fill this intellectual void by probing the substantial correlation between these seemingly divergent domains. The Astros, known for their prowess on the diamond, inadvertently find themselves entangled in the complex web of educator salaries. The irony is palpable, much like a poorly executed bunt.
While one might initially argue that the correlation may be a mere statistical fluke, our preliminary investigations hint at a more substantial connection. As the old adage goes, "where there's smoke, there's fire." With a correlation coefficient that could nearly hit a home run by itself, and a p-value so low it would make a finance professor envious, the data paints an intriguing picture – a picture of baseball fans and educators marching to the same beat, or at least sitting in the same stands.
As we embark upon this statistical expedition, we aim to not only uncover the underlying patterns but also to shed light on the ever-entertaining world of statistical analysis. So, grab your calculators and baseball caps, dear readers, as we dive into this delightfully peculiar correlation. After all, in the words of Yogi Berra, "It's like déjà vu all over again." Thus, without further ado, let's step up to the plate and swing for the fences in our quest for understanding this curious crosstown connection.

-------

Your response should start like this:

[[RESULTS]]



ChatGPT:

[[RESULTS]]

The analysis of the data collected from 2009 to 2019 revealed a surprisingly robust correlation between Houston Astros ticket sales and instructor salaries in the United States. The correlation coefficient of 0.9623896 suggests a remarkably strong positive linear relationship between the two variables. This finding was further supported by an r-squared value of 0.9261938, indicating that approximately 92.6% of the variability in instructor salaries can be explained by the ticket sales for Astros games. The p-value being less than 0.01 reinforces the statistical significance of the relationship, providing convincing evidence of a genuine connection rather than a mere statistical anomaly.

The scatterplot in Figure 1 illustrates the striking correlation between Houston Astros ticket sales and instructor salaries, with the data points clustering tightly around the upward-sloping regression line. The figure serves as a visual testament to the surprising association between the fervor of baseball enthusiasts and the compensation of educators across the nation. It seems that while the Astros were hitting home runs on the field, educators' earnings were experiencing a parallel surge, reminiscent of a simultaneous seventh-inning stretch in both ballparks and paychecks nationwide.

Overall, these findings challenge our preconceived notions of the distinct spheres of sports and education, inviting us to ponder the intriguing interplay between the roar of the crowd at Minute Maid Park and the scholarly pursuits within the hallowed halls of learning. This unexpected correlation sparks an intellectual curiosity that rivals the anticipation of a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the ninth inning. It appears that while the Astros were stealing bases, instructors' salaries were making a steal of their own - in the form of an unforeseen statistical partnership with the world of sports. Indeed, the results of this analysis not only expand our understanding of the complex web of societal interactions but also underscore the amusement that statistical inquiry can bring to the most unlikely vistas of human endeavor.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You draft the discussion section of an academic research paper.
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, or add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please make up the discussion section of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between Ticket sales for Houston Astros games and Instructor salaries in the US. Make it seem dry like academic research paper, but with lots of subtle hidden offhand remarks, jokes, goofy observations, and puns.

Limit your response to 500 tokens.

Here are the title, abstract, literature review, and results sections. Please harken back to 1-2 of the goofy items in the literature review, but pretend to take them completely seriously. Discuss how your results supported the prior research.

Do not write a conclusion. I will add a conclusion after this.

[[TITLE]]
The Ballpark of Instructor Salaries: A Correlative Study of Houston Astros Ticket Sales and Educator Compensation

[[ABSTRACT]]
This study delves into the peculiar relationship between the ticket sales of the acclaimed Houston Astros baseball team and the salaries of educators across the United States. Through meticulous data analysis utilizing sources such as Baseball-Reference.com and the hallowed National Center for Education Statistics, we sought to uncover any link between these seemingly disparate domains. Our findings remarkably revealed a robust correlation coefficient of 0.9623896 and p < 0.01 for the years 2009 to 2019, suggesting a rather intriguing interplay between the hallowed bleachers and the hallowed halls of academia. As we aim to shed light on this unexpected association, we also hope to strike home with the notion that statistical analysis can, indeed, be a home run in uncovering the more amusive intricacies of societal phenomena.

[[LITERATURE REVIEW]]
The literature surrounding the interconnected realms of sports attendance and educator compensation presents a dichotomous blend of research, ranging from the rigorously empirical to the utterly whimsical. Smith et al. in "The Economics of Sports: Game Theory and Ticket Sales" present a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of sports attendance, delving into economic factors such as ticket pricing, team performance, and even socio-demographic variables. Their meticulous dissection of the intricacies of sports attendance provides a sturdy foundation for understanding the dynamics at play in our own investigation. Meanwhile, Doe's "Educator Salaries: Trends and Implications" offers a clinically thorough exploration of the factors influencing educator compensation, with a sharp focus on the impact of funding, educational policy, and labor market trends.
As we traverse further into the literature, we encounter a more unconventional trove of insights. Jones and colleagues, in their seminal work "Baseball Bats and Brainiacs: Exploring the Unlikely Correlations of Leisure and Learning," take a delightfully unorthodox approach by musing on the potential interplay between leisure activities, such as baseball spectating, and cognitive development. While not directly addressing educator salaries, their whimsical contemplations serve as a gentle reminder of the unanticipated relationships that may emerge in the labyrinth of statistical analysis.
Turning to more unconventional sources, non-fiction works such as "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game" by Michael Lewis and "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner offer provocative insights into the statistical underpinnings of sports and societal phenomena. In a more whimsical turn, fictional literature such as "The Art of Fielding" by Chad Harbach and "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt, although not directly related to our study, serve as a lighthearted reminder of the unpredictable intersections that exist between academia and leisure pursuits.
In a surprising twist, recent social media posts have also hinted at connections between baseball enthusiasm and educational fervor. One tweet, bearing the hashtag #BaseballandBooks, joyfully proclaimed, "Just like a well-crafted curveball, education can keep you on your toes! Let's hit those textbooks out of the park, students!" While not a rigorously empirical source, such online musings serve as testament to the pervasive, if not slightly fantastical, integration of sports and education in the public consciousness.
As we meander through this colorful array of scholarly endeavors, fictional musings, and digital reveries, we are reminded that statistical analysis, much like a curveball, can yield unexpected twists and turns. With a cheeky wink to the unpredictability of scholarly pursuits, we forge ahead in our quest to unravel the perplexing link between Houston Astros ticket sales and educator compensation. Let the games begin!


[[RESULTS]]
The analysis of the data collected from 2009 to 2019 revealed a surprisingly robust correlation between Houston Astros ticket sales and instructor salaries in the United States. The correlation coefficient of 0.9623896 suggests a remarkably strong positive linear relationship between the two variables. This finding was further supported by an r-squared value of 0.9261938, indicating that approximately 92.6% of the variability in instructor salaries can be explained by the ticket sales for Astros games. The p-value being less than 0.01 reinforces the statistical significance of the relationship, providing convincing evidence of a genuine connection rather than a mere statistical anomaly.
The scatterplot in Figure 1 illustrates the striking correlation between Houston Astros ticket sales and instructor salaries, with the data points clustering tightly around the upward-sloping regression line. The figure serves as a visual testament to the surprising association between the fervor of baseball enthusiasts and the compensation of educators across the nation. It seems that while the Astros were hitting home runs on the field, educators' earnings were experiencing a parallel surge, reminiscent of a simultaneous seventh-inning stretch in both ballparks and paychecks nationwide.
Overall, these findings challenge our preconceived notions of the distinct spheres of sports and education, inviting us to ponder the intriguing interplay between the roar of the crowd at Minute Maid Park and the scholarly pursuits within the hallowed halls of learning. This unexpected correlation sparks an intellectual curiosity that rivals the anticipation of a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the ninth inning. It appears that while the Astros were stealing bases, instructors' salaries were making a steal of their own - in the form of an unforeseen statistical partnership with the world of sports. Indeed, the results of this analysis not only expand our understanding of the complex web of societal interactions but also underscore the amusement that statistical inquiry can bring to the most unlikely vistas of human endeavor.

-------

Your response should start like this:

[[DISCUSSION]]



ChatGPT:

[[DISCUSSION]]

The results of our study have unveiled an unexpected relationship between Houston Astros ticket sales and instructor salaries in the United States. This rather intriguing association brings to mind the words of Mark Twain, who wryly remarked, "Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable." It seems that our statistical analysis has not only proven the pliability of such data but also the permeability of boundaries between the academic sphere and the exuberant realm of sports.

Our findings align with the scholarly works of Smith et al. and Doe, who diligently cataloged the multifaceted determinants of sports attendance and educator compensation. Unbeknownst to them, they were laying the groundwork for our own investigation into this fascinating intersection of domains. Furthermore, the whimsical contemplations of Jones and colleagues in "Baseball Bats and Brainiacs" may have been more than mere musings, as our study has substantiated the notion of an unlikely correlation between leisurely sports spectating and the recompense of educators.

Our results also echo the sentiments expressed in the Twitterverse with the #BaseballandBooks hashtag, reaffirming that the amalgamation of sports and education is not just the stuff of fanciful anecdotes but is buttressed by tangible statistical evidence. It seems that while the crowd's cheers reverberated through the bleachers of Minute Maid Park, their impact stretched far beyond the outfield, exerting a gravitational pull on the remuneration of our educators across the nation.

In essence, our study serves as a gentle reminder of the marvels that statistical analysis can unveil, akin to the hidden seams of a baseball hiding beneath its stitched exterior. As we round the bases of academic inquiry, it is important to heed the sage words of Yogi Berra, who once quipped, "It's like déjà vu all over again." Our study reaffirms the timeless insight that the marriage of statistical rigor and scholarly inquisitiveness can unravel the most unexpected of connections, leaving us as delighted and bemused as a fan catching a foul ball in the stands.

This research bridges the divide between the world of sports and the realm of education, underscoring that in the peculiar dance of statistics, even the most disparate variables can find themselves choreographed into a harmonious waltz. As we curiously examine this unanticipated entanglement, we find ourselves in the delightful company of Lewis and Dubner, toying with the idea that indeed, "sometimes the most interesting questions are the ones that nobody can answer."

In the absence of a clear consensus in the literature, our study propels us into uncharted territories, encouraging further investigation into the nuances of how game days in Houston might exert their influence on the salary scales of educators nationwide. As we reflect on these findings, it is perhaps best to embrace the whimsy that statistical inquiry has to offer, for as observed by the esteemed Arthur Conan Doyle, "It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important."

In the charming cadence of a seventh-inning stretch, our analysis beckons for a celebratory rallying cry to unite the seemingly divergent worlds of baseball fandom and academic pursuit.

And with that, we eagerly anticipate delving deeper into the quirky intricacies of this relationship, armed with an aphorism from Walt Whitman, who wistfully intoned, "I see great things in baseball. It's our game, the American game." Similarly, we envision great revelations in this delightful confluence of statistical inquiry and societal phenomena, uncovering the quirks and quiddities of human pursuits that make our scholarly endeavors as engaging and capricious as the crack of a bat against a baseball.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You draft the discussion section of goofy academic research papers that sounds like it belongs based on the title and abstract provided.
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, or add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please make up a short conclusion of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between Ticket sales for Houston Astros games and Instructor salaries in the US. Make it seem dry like academic research paper, but with lots of subtle hidden offhand remarks, jokes, goofy observations, and puns.

Limit your response to 300 tokens. At the very end, assert that no more research is needed in this area.

Here are the title, abstract, introduction, and results sections.
[[TITLE]]
The Ballpark of Instructor Salaries: A Correlative Study of Houston Astros Ticket Sales and Educator Compensation

[[ABSTRACT]]
This study delves into the peculiar relationship between the ticket sales of the acclaimed Houston Astros baseball team and the salaries of educators across the United States. Through meticulous data analysis utilizing sources such as Baseball-Reference.com and the hallowed National Center for Education Statistics, we sought to uncover any link between these seemingly disparate domains. Our findings remarkably revealed a robust correlation coefficient of 0.9623896 and p < 0.01 for the years 2009 to 2019, suggesting a rather intriguing interplay between the hallowed bleachers and the hallowed halls of academia. As we aim to shed light on this unexpected association, we also hope to strike home with the notion that statistical analysis can, indeed, be a home run in uncovering the more amusive intricacies of societal phenomena.

[[INTRDUCTION]]
The intersection of sports and academia is not often explored, but as the saying goes, "It's statistically significant until proven otherwise." In this paper, we embark on an empirical journey to unravel the enigmatic relationship between the attendance figures at Houston Astros games and the compensation of educators across America. It seems like comparing apples to oranges, or perhaps baseballs to blackboards, but stranger things have been statistically associated.
Education and baseball have long been considered disparate sectors, yet an inquisitive mind cannot help but wonder if there's more to it than meets the eye. Our study seeks to fill this intellectual void by probing the substantial correlation between these seemingly divergent domains. The Astros, known for their prowess on the diamond, inadvertently find themselves entangled in the complex web of educator salaries. The irony is palpable, much like a poorly executed bunt.
While one might initially argue that the correlation may be a mere statistical fluke, our preliminary investigations hint at a more substantial connection. As the old adage goes, "where there's smoke, there's fire." With a correlation coefficient that could nearly hit a home run by itself, and a p-value so low it would make a finance professor envious, the data paints an intriguing picture – a picture of baseball fans and educators marching to the same beat, or at least sitting in the same stands.
As we embark upon this statistical expedition, we aim to not only uncover the underlying patterns but also to shed light on the ever-entertaining world of statistical analysis. So, grab your calculators and baseball caps, dear readers, as we dive into this delightfully peculiar correlation. After all, in the words of Yogi Berra, "It's like déjà vu all over again." Thus, without further ado, let's step up to the plate and swing for the fences in our quest for understanding this curious crosstown connection.

[[RESULTS]]
The analysis of the data collected from 2009 to 2019 revealed a surprisingly robust correlation between Houston Astros ticket sales and instructor salaries in the United States. The correlation coefficient of 0.9623896 suggests a remarkably strong positive linear relationship between the two variables. This finding was further supported by an r-squared value of 0.9261938, indicating that approximately 92.6% of the variability in instructor salaries can be explained by the ticket sales for Astros games. The p-value being less than 0.01 reinforces the statistical significance of the relationship, providing convincing evidence of a genuine connection rather than a mere statistical anomaly.
The scatterplot in Figure 1 illustrates the striking correlation between Houston Astros ticket sales and instructor salaries, with the data points clustering tightly around the upward-sloping regression line. The figure serves as a visual testament to the surprising association between the fervor of baseball enthusiasts and the compensation of educators across the nation. It seems that while the Astros were hitting home runs on the field, educators' earnings were experiencing a parallel surge, reminiscent of a simultaneous seventh-inning stretch in both ballparks and paychecks nationwide.
Overall, these findings challenge our preconceived notions of the distinct spheres of sports and education, inviting us to ponder the intriguing interplay between the roar of the crowd at Minute Maid Park and the scholarly pursuits within the hallowed halls of learning. This unexpected correlation sparks an intellectual curiosity that rivals the anticipation of a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the ninth inning. It appears that while the Astros were stealing bases, instructors' salaries were making a steal of their own - in the form of an unforeseen statistical partnership with the world of sports. Indeed, the results of this analysis not only expand our understanding of the complex web of societal interactions but also underscore the amusement that statistical inquiry can bring to the most unlikely vistas of human endeavor.

-------

Your response should start like this:

[[CONCLUSION]]



ChatGPT:

[[CONCLUSION]]

In conclusion, our study has unveiled a remarkably robust correlation between Houston Astros ticket sales and educator salaries in the United States. The data has persistently indicated a striking positive linear relationship, defying conventional expectations and prompting a reevaluation of the seemingly disparate realms of sports and academia. The findings emerge as a grand slam in the realm of statistical analysis, proving that even the most disparate elements of society can be intertwined in unforeseen ways. It seems that as the Astros were scoring runs on the field, educators across the nation were witnessing a parallel rise in their compensation, creating a statistical synergy akin to a perfectly executed double play.

The implications of this unexpected association are as fascinating as a no-hitter in the world of statistical research. As we consider educator salaries and Astros ticket sales, it becomes apparent that there may be underlying factors driving this correlation that warrant further investigation (though we can't blame you if you feel like you've been thrown a curveball by this revelation). Future research could delve into the regional nuances and demographic variables that might underpin this intriguing trend, but for now, we stand amidst the cheering crowd, celebrating a statistically significant discovery that reminds us of the ever-entertaining surprises that data analysis can offer.

In the grand tradition of research, it is with great delight that we assert that no more empirical research is needed in this area. After all, as Mark Twain once quipped, "Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please."

So, with the cheers of the baseball stadium and the wisdom of the library, we bid adieu to this captivating correlation, leaving the field open for the next statistical adventure. As we exit stage left, we invite researchers to follow this lead and perhaps uncover further instances of statistical serendipity amidst the seemingly unrelated phenomena of our world. After all, in the grand game of research, as in baseball, sometimes the most unexpected correlations turn out to be the most intriguing, and statistically speaking, that's a home run.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You provide fictional names of academic journals. You say nothing else, and you do not chat with the user.
User prompt: Please provide the name of a funny but plausible sounding research, scientific, or academic journal that would publish a paper entited The Ballpark of Instructor Salaries: A Correlative Study of Houston Astros Ticket Sales and Educator Compensation. Respond only with the name of a fictional academic journal.

ChatGPT:

The Journal of Sports Economics and Education Policy


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You provide fictional names of nonprofit research organizations and associations. You say nothing else, and you do not chat with the user.
User prompt: Please provide the name of a funny but plausible sounding nonprofit, academic, or scientific association or organization that would sponsor research that resulted in a paper entited The Ballpark of Instructor Salaries: A Correlative Study of Houston Astros Ticket Sales and Educator Compensation. Respond only with the name of a fictional organization.

ChatGPT:

The Society for Interdisciplinary Sports Economics and Education Research


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You provide potential search keywords separated by commas. You say nothing else, and you do not chat with the user.
User prompt: Please provide potential search keywords for a paper titled The Ballpark of Instructor Salaries: A Correlative Study of Houston Astros Ticket Sales and Educator Compensation with an abstract of This study delves into the peculiar relationship between the ticket sales of the acclaimed Houston Astros baseball team and the salaries of educators across the United States. Through meticulous data analysis utilizing sources such as Baseball-Reference.com and the hallowed National Center for Education Statistics, we sought to uncover any link between these seemingly disparate domains. Our findings remarkably revealed a robust correlation coefficient of 0.9623896 and p < 0.01 for the years 2009 to 2019, suggesting a rather intriguing interplay between the hallowed bleachers and the hallowed halls of academia. As we aim to shed light on this unexpected association, we also hope to strike home with the notion that statistical analysis can, indeed, be a home run in uncovering the more amusive intricacies of societal phenomena.

ChatGPT:

Houston Astros, ticket sales, educator compensation, correlation study, data analysis, Baseball-Reference.com, National Center for Education Statistics, correlation coefficient, interplay, academia, statistical analysis, societal phenomena

*There is a bunch of Python happening behind the scenes to turn this prompt sequence into a PDF.



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Data details

Ticket sales for Houston Astros games
Detailed data title: Total tickets sold in home games for the Houston Astros
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
See what else correlates with Ticket sales for Houston Astros games

Instructor salaries in the US
Detailed data title: Average salary of full-time instructional faculty on 9-month contracts in degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by academic rank of of Instructor
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
See what else correlates with Instructor salaries in the US

Correlation r = 0.9623896 (Pearson correlation coefficient)
Correlation is a measure of how much the variables move together. If it is 0.99, when one goes up the other goes up. If it is 0.02, the connection is very weak or non-existent. If it is -0.99, then when one goes up the other goes down. If it is 1.00, you probably messed up your correlation function.

r2 = 0.9261938 (Coefficient of determination)
This means 92.6% of the change in the one variable (i.e., Instructor salaries in the US) is predictable based on the change in the other (i.e., Ticket sales for Houston Astros games) over the 11 years from 2009 through 2019.

p < 0.01, which is statistically significant(Null hypothesis significance test)
The p-value is 2.2E-6. 0.0000021515231155458460000000
The p-value is a measure of how probable it is that we would randomly find a result this extreme. More specifically the p-value is a measure of how probable it is that we would randomly find a result this extreme if we had only tested one pair of variables one time.

But I am a p-villain. I absolutely did not test only one pair of variables one time. I correlated hundreds of millions of pairs of variables. I threw boatloads of data into an industrial-sized blender to find this correlation.

Who is going to stop me? p-value reporting doesn't require me to report how many calculations I had to go through in order to find a low p-value!
On average, you will find a correaltion as strong as 0.96 in 0.00022% of random cases. Said differently, if you correlated 464,787 random variables You don't actually need 464 thousand variables to find a correlation like this one. I don't have that many variables in my database. You can also correlate variables that are not independent. I do this a lot.

p-value calculations are useful for understanding the probability of a result happening by chance. They are most useful when used to highlight the risk of a fluke outcome. For example, if you calculate a p-value of 0.30, the risk that the result is a fluke is high. It is good to know that! But there are lots of ways to get a p-value of less than 0.01, as evidenced by this project.

In this particular case, the values are so extreme as to be meaningless. That's why no one reports p-values with specificity after they drop below 0.01.

Just to be clear: I'm being completely transparent about the calculations. There is no math trickery. This is just how statistics shakes out when you calculate hundreds of millions of random correlations.
with the same 10 degrees of freedom, Degrees of freedom is a measure of how many free components we are testing. In this case it is 10 because we have two variables measured over a period of 11 years. It's just the number of years minus ( the number of variables minus one ), which in this case simplifies to the number of years minus one.
you would randomly expect to find a correlation as strong as this one.

[ 0.86, 0.99 ] 95% correlation confidence interval (using the Fisher z-transformation)
The confidence interval is an estimate the range of the value of the correlation coefficient, using the correlation itself as an input. The values are meant to be the low and high end of the correlation coefficient with 95% confidence.

This one is a bit more complciated than the other calculations, but I include it because many people have been pushing for confidence intervals instead of p-value calculations (for example: NEJM. However, if you are dredging data, you can reliably find yourself in the 5%. That's my goal!


All values for the years included above: If I were being very sneaky, I could trim years from the beginning or end of the datasets to increase the correlation on some pairs of variables. I don't do that because there are already plenty of correlations in my database without monkeying with the years.

Still, sometimes one of the variables has more years of data available than the other. This page only shows the overlapping years. To see all the years, click on "See what else correlates with..." link above.
20092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Ticket sales for Houston Astros games (Tickets sold)25210802331490206702016077301651880175183021535802306620240367029805502857370
Instructor salaries in the US (Salary)7520073990723147030669905705527209673934740807544975371




Why this works

  1. Data dredging: I have 25,153 variables in my database. I compare all these variables against each other to find ones that randomly match up. That's 632,673,409 correlation calculations! This is called “data dredging.” Instead of starting with a hypothesis and testing it, I instead abused the data to see what correlations shake out. It’s a dangerous way to go about analysis, because any sufficiently large dataset will yield strong correlations completely at random.
  2. Lack of causal connection: There is probably Because these pages are automatically generated, it's possible that the two variables you are viewing are in fact causually related. I take steps to prevent the obvious ones from showing on the site (I don't let data about the weather in one city correlate with the weather in a neighboring city, for example), but sometimes they still pop up. If they are related, cool! You found a loophole.
    no direct connection between these variables, despite what the AI says above. This is exacerbated by the fact that I used "Years" as the base variable. Lots of things happen in a year that are not related to each other! Most studies would use something like "one person" in stead of "one year" to be the "thing" studied.
  3. Observations not independent: For many variables, sequential years are not independent of each other. If a population of people is continuously doing something every day, there is no reason to think they would suddenly change how they are doing that thing on January 1. A simple Personally I don't find any p-value calculation to be 'simple,' but you know what I mean.
    p-value calculation does not take this into account, so mathematically it appears less probable than it really is.
  4. Y-axis doesn't start at zero: I truncated the Y-axes of the graph above. I also used a line graph, which makes the visual connection stand out more than it deserves. Nothing against line graphs. They are great at telling a story when you have linear data! But visually it is deceptive because the only data is at the points on the graph, not the lines on the graph. In between each point, the data could have been doing anything. Like going for a random walk by itself!
    Mathematically what I showed is true, but it is intentionally misleading. Below is the same chart but with both Y-axes starting at zero.




Try it yourself

You can calculate the values on this page on your own! Try running the Python code to see the calculation results. Step 1: Download and install Python on your computer.

Step 2: Open a plaintext editor like Notepad and paste the code below into it.

Step 3: Save the file as "calculate_correlation.py" in a place you will remember, like your desktop. Copy the file location to your clipboard. On Windows, you can right-click the file and click "Properties," and then copy what comes after "Location:" As an example, on my computer the location is "C:\Users\tyler\Desktop"

Step 4: Open a command line window. For example, by pressing start and typing "cmd" and them pressing enter.

Step 5: Install the required modules by typing "pip install numpy", then pressing enter, then typing "pip install scipy", then pressing enter.

Step 6: Navigate to the location where you saved the Python file by using the "cd" command. For example, I would type "cd C:\Users\tyler\Desktop" and push enter.

Step 7: Run the Python script by typing "python calculate_correlation.py"

If you run into any issues, I suggest asking ChatGPT to walk you through installing Python and running the code below on your system. Try this question:

"Walk me through installing Python on my computer to run a script that uses scipy and numpy. Go step-by-step and ask me to confirm before moving on. Start by asking me questions about my operating system so that you know how to proceed. Assume I want the simplest installation with the latest version of Python and that I do not currently have any of the necessary elements installed. Remember to only give me one step per response and confirm I have done it before proceeding."


# These modules make it easier to perform the calculation
import numpy as np
from scipy import stats

# We'll define a function that we can call to return the correlation calculations
def calculate_correlation(array1, array2):

    # Calculate Pearson correlation coefficient and p-value
    correlation, p_value = stats.pearsonr(array1, array2)

    # Calculate R-squared as the square of the correlation coefficient
    r_squared = correlation**2

    return correlation, r_squared, p_value

# These are the arrays for the variables shown on this page, but you can modify them to be any two sets of numbers
array_1 = np.array([2521080,2331490,2067020,1607730,1651880,1751830,2153580,2306620,2403670,2980550,2857370,])
array_2 = np.array([75200,73990,72314,70306,69905,70552,72096,73934,74080,75449,75371,])
array_1_name = "Ticket sales for Houston Astros games"
array_2_name = "Instructor salaries in the US"

# Perform the calculation
print(f"Calculating the correlation between {array_1_name} and {array_2_name}...")
correlation, r_squared, p_value = calculate_correlation(array_1, array_2)

# Print the results
print("Correlation Coefficient:", correlation)
print("R-squared:", r_squared)
print("P-value:", p_value)



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You do not need to attribute "the spurious correlations website," and you don't even need to link here if you don't want to. I don't gain anything from pageviews. There are no ads on this site, there is nothing for sale, and I am not for hire.

For the record, I am just one person. Tyler Vigen, he/him/his. I do have degrees, but they should not go after my name unless you want to annoy my wife. If that is your goal, then go ahead and cite me as "Tyler Vigen, A.A. A.A.S. B.A. J.D." Otherwise it is just "Tyler Vigen."

When spoken, my last name is pronounced "vegan," like I don't eat meat.

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Correlation ID: 2751 · Black Variable ID: 4408 · Red Variable ID: 1204
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