Claire Rowsey

Algebra 2 Period 3
Kiker
September 9, 2014
Regression Project
Many countries that are underdeveloped have the highest
poverty and malnutrition rates, and the lowest high school graduation
rates and literacy rates. I wanted to see if any of these factors
correlated when put on a graph, so I compared the high school
graduation rates and poverty rates in multiple countries of different
socioeconomics and demographics to see what the relationship was
and if there was a correlation.

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100

High school Graduation Rate

As I did my
research, I noticed that as the high school graduation rates went down,
the poverty rates went up. To display my data, I chose to create a
scatterplot with the high school graduation rate on the x-axis and the
poverty rate on the y-axis. When graphed, my data created a negative
correlation at a slope of -.287. The negative correlation led me to the
conclusion that countries with the most educated people have the
least poverty. With my data and my graph, I created the equation
y=-.287x+39.8; with -.287 being the slope and 39.8 being the y
intercept. Using this equation, I can predict the poverty rate of any
country by using the graduation rate. I can plug any countrys
graduation rate into the equation as the x variable and the answer will
be the approximate poverty rate. For example, if you were to have a
country with a 50 percent graduation rate, you could use that as the x
variable and use the equation y=-.287(50)+39.8 to get the
approximate poverty rate of 25.45%. Other examples of this are
y=-.287(25)+39.5= 32.325 and y=-.287(70)+39.5= 19.41. As you can

see, the larger the number you put in for the x value, the smaller the y
value will be. But who cares? Why does this data matter? This data and
correlation could be useful to anyone in the social services field, who
help people with unemployment. It could also be useful to people in
government offices that work with people who need financial and
housing aid. Most importantly, it could be very useful to figure out why
some countries are underdeveloped and cant seem to become more
powerful and wealthy.
The countries that have the lowest high school graduation rates
tend to have the highest poverty rates, but why is that? If people dont
finish high school, how will they be able to find a good job later? And if
a lot of people in one country dont finish high school, then there are
almost no people qualified to work at good jobs. If many people in one
country are forced into minimum wage or no jobs, they have less
money to feed their families and they are forced into a life of poverty.
This is why it should be mandatory to attend 12 years of school in
every country. This would significantly raise high school graduation
rates and lower the poverty rates.
Claire Rowsey
Algebra 2 Period 3
Kiker
September 9, 2014
Regression project Works Cited
Eduacation. OECD Better Life Index. September 2, 2014.
http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/education/.
Field Listing: Population Below Poverty Line. CIA World Factbook.
September 2, 2014. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/fields/2046.html