Correlation coefficient and nonlinear relationships

The correlation coefficient is a poor description of the strength of nonlinear relationships.

Marine bacteria surviving X-rays

Choosing the transformation

How do you decide which variable to transform to linearise a relationship? There is no easy answer that works for all data sets, but a useful approach is to look at the marginal distributions of each variable seperately and to initially try transformations that remove any skewness in these distributions.

Metabolic rate and lifespan