What effect does removing a point in the upper right corner of a scatterplot have on the slope of the line of best fit and the correlation?

Removing a point in the upper right corner of a scatterplot typically results in a change to the overall trend represented by the remaining data points.

When a high-value point, often seen as an outlier, is removed, it can have a reducing effect on the slope of the line of best fit. This happens because that upper right corner point usually contributes positively to both the slope and the correlation due to its high values on both axes. By eliminating this point, the remaining data may have a lower average x-value relative to y-value, which thus leads to a decrease in the overall slope.

As for the correlation coefficient, it measures the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables. The removal of the upper corner point can often result in a tighter cluster of points with less variability, thereby increasing the strength of the linear relationship among the remaining points. Consequently, as this higher correlation suggests a more consistent linear relationship, the correlation value tends to increase.

Thus, the action of removing a point in the upper right corner decreases the slope of the line of best fit while increasing the strength of the correlation among the remaining data points.