2 comments

  • Saturday, Feb 15 2020

    No, that could be the reason but it’s not the case that it must be. In other words, correlation does not imply causation. There are 4 different competing explanations as to what could be happening.

    there could be a third variable (Z) that is causing both X and Y to increase.

    X could be causing Y to increase.

    conversely, Y could be causing X to increase.

    There is no relationship.

    0
  • Saturday, Feb 15 2020

    No

    for example,

    as one smokes more, the chance of one getting heart disease goes up

    Does that imply, as the chance of one getting heart disease goes up, one is smoking more? No

    Why? Because the chance of you getting heart disease could go up independent of smoking more. It could be for other reasons, like eating a ton of junk food.

    2

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