Is there a correlation between vehicle weight and mileage?

The members of this project committee believe that as the weight of a vehicle increases, the mileage per gallon will decrease. Therefore, we will perform an observational study and collect a simple random sample of discrete data of generic automobile weights and compare gas mileage as a function of the vehicle weight. The following statistical data summarizes whether or not there is a linear correlation between vehicle weight and mileage (expressed in MPG). Car Weight in Pounds 1800 1900 1980 2200 2100 2110 2150 2170 2200 2250 2350 2600 2600 2700 2650 2660 2700 2750
Work cited from:
09reimk. (2008, 10 09). Car Weight vs. MPG. Retrieved from MyStatCrunch: http://www.statcrunch.com/5.0/viewreport.php?reportid=5572#Result2

MPG 35.1 34.0 32.0 32.5 38.0 29.0 30.0 30.5 34.0 31.0 27.0 33.0 28.0 28.5 26.5 22.0 27.5 27.0

Car Weight in Pounds 2800 2650 2700 2800 3100 3200 3350 3400 3400 3600 3650 3750 3800 3850 3900 3920 4100 4400

MPG 26.8 22.0 21.5 22.7 21.5 19.5 21.0 17.6 17.0 19.0 18.0 17.6 17.8 17.5 18.0 17.0 15.5 17.5

Summary of Data: After reviewing the data, we notice a negative linear relationship taking place with reduced gas mileage as the amount of weight in each vehicle increases. The result usually ends in lower gas mileage per vehicle.

Math 1040, Intro to Statistics | Team Project Members | Dolato, Coralee; Gatt, Richard; Guzman, Yani; Hansen, Michelle; Starkes, Aaron; Tanner, Kate

Scatterplot of MPG vs Vehicle Weights

40 35 30
MPG
y = -0.0083x + 48.766 R = 0.8245

25 20 15 10 2000 2500 3000 3500 Vehicle Weights 4000 4500

The R2 absolute value for the least-squares regression line is well above the critical values for correlation coefficient (R2 0.8245 > 0.361, given n >30) which supports our hypothesis that there is a linear correlation between increase in vehicle weight and mileage.

Math 1040, Intro to Statistics | Team Project Members | Dolato, Coralee; Gatt, Richard; Guzman, Yani; Hansen, Michelle; Starkes, Aaron; Tanner, Kate

Residual Data:
Car Weight in Pounds 1800 1900 1980 2200 2100 2110 2150 2170 2200 2250 2350 2600 2600 2700 2650 2660 2700 2750 Car Weight in Predicted Y Residual Pounds 33.8 1.3 2800 33.0 1.0 2650 32.3 -0.3 2700 30.5 2.0 2800 31.3 6.7 3100 31.3 -2.3 3200 30.9 -0.9 3350 30.8 -0.3 3400 30.5 3.5 3400 30.1 0.9 3600 29.3 -2.3 3650 27.2 5.8 3750 27.2 0.8 3800 26.4 2.1 3850 26.8 -0.3 3900 26.7 -4.7 3920 26.4 1.1 4100 25.9 1.1 4400 Predicted Y 25.5 26.8 26.4 25.5 23.0 22.2 21.0 20.5 20.5 18.9 18.5 17.6 17.2 16.8 16.4 16.2 14.7 12.2 Residual 1.3 -4.8 -4.9 -2.8 -1.5 -2.7 0.0 -2.9 -3.5 0.1 -0.5 0.0 0.6 0.7 1.6 0.8 0.8 5.3

Based on the r value and because the residuals display a constant error variance with no spread or pattern either increasing or decreasing, we can conclusively state that there is a linear correlation between mileage and vehicle weight.
Scatterplot of Residual vs Vehicle Weights
7.5

5.0

Residual

2.5

0.0

-2.5

-5.0 2000 2500 3000 3500 Vehicle Weights 4000 4500

Math 1040, Intro to Statistics | Team Project Members | Dolato, Coralee; Gatt, Richard; Guzman, Yani; Hansen, Michelle; Starkes, Aaron; Tanner, Kate

Predictions:
Based on the function f(mpg) = -0.0083(Vehicle Weight) + 48.766 and the predicted data, we created the following scattplot. The least-squares regression line of the predicted scatterplot closely resembles the one from the MPG vs. Vehicle Weights scatterplot further supporting our hypothesis. Predicted Data: Prediction 800 1000 1300 1500 2850 3500 4500 Predicted MPG 42.1 40.5 38.0 36.3 25.1 19.7 11.4

Scatterplot of Predicted MPG vs Prediction

45 40 35
Predicted MPG

30 25 20 15 10 1000 2000 3000 Prediction 4000 5000

Math 1040, Intro to Statistics | Team Project Members | Dolato, Coralee; Gatt, Richard; Guzman, Yani; Hansen, Michelle; Starkes, Aaron; Tanner, Kate

Analysis: Our sample collection represented a cluster of quantitative data. The collection consisted of 36 observations which was sufficient for our conclusions. There was some variance noticed as some vehicles with greater weight experienced lower MPG than some vehicles weighing less. This should be expected. These variances were probaly due to lurking variables. For example, highway vs. city driving, road conditions, driving habits of the operator, etc, would have impacted the actual gas mileage for a given weight of the vehicle. The probability that the results of our observations are can be extened to the population are subjective as we predict that these results are representative of vehicle weight vs. fuel consumption as measured by MPG to all vehicles as a whole. The observations conducted were simple enough to warrant this, taking into consideration the lurking variables already mentioned. Based on this study, our initial predictions were accurate. Our assumption that fuel mileage would decline as a result of increased vehicle weight was correct.

Math 1040, Intro to Statistics | Team Project Members | Dolato, Coralee; Gatt, Richard; Guzman, Yani; Hansen, Michelle; Starkes, Aaron; Tanner, Kate