In correlation, what does a value closer to 1 indicate?

A value closer to 1 in correlation indicates a perfect positive association between two variables. This means that as one variable increases, the other variable also increases in a consistent manner. For instance, if you were to look at the correlation between hours studied and test scores, a correlation of 0.9 or above would suggest that students who study more tend to achieve higher scores.

A correlation value of exactly 1 indicates a perfect linear relationship, where every increase in one variable results in a proportional increase in the other. This concept is foundational in statistics, especially in understanding relationships between different sets of data and in making predictions based on those relationships. Therefore, a value close to 1 is a strong indicator of a direct and consistent relationship between the variables under consideration.