A negative correlation implies what relationship between two variables?

A negative correlation indicates that there is an inverse relationship between two variables. Specifically, when one variable increases, the other variable tends to decrease. This means that the values of the two variables move in opposite directions. For example, if we're looking at the relationship between the amount of time spent studying and exam scores, a negative correlation might suggest that as study time increases, exam scores go down, which can be understood in contexts like burnout or overstudying.

Recognizing this inverse relationship is crucial in various fields, including statistics, psychology, and economics, as it helps in understanding how changes in one variable can impact another. The concept of negative correlation is often visualized through a scatter plot, where points tend to slope downwards from left to right.

In contrast, the other options describe different types of relationships or the absence of one. For instance, a positive interaction between variables would suggest they move together in the same direction, while stating that one variable is unrelated to the other implies no correlation at all. Lastly, claiming that both variables remain unchanged does not reflect any relationship between them and is not compatible with the concept of correlation.