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Spurious correlation #3,528 · View random

A linear line chart with years as the X-axis and two variables on the Y-axis. The first variable is American cheese consumption and the second variable is The Home Depot's stock price (HD).  The chart goes from 2002 to 2021, and the two variables track closely in value over that time. Small Image
Download png
, svg

AI explanation

As American cheese consumption increased, so did the frequency of impromptu backyard barbecues. This led to a spike in demand for grills, patio furniture, and home improvement supplies from The Home Depot. With more people firing up the grills to make ooey-gooey grilled cheese sandwiches and cheesy burgers, The Home Depot's stock price sizzled on the market, melting the competition. It's a gouda correlation for those investing in home improvement and dairy delight!

Model: dalle-3
Prompt: Generate an image in the style of Brutalism featuring a bustling Home Depot store. Customers are engaged in browsing through aisles filled with cheese graters. In the background, a stock price ticker for HD prominently displays a steady rise, symbolizing the company's success. The scene is infused with the scent of melting American cheese as customers eagerly fill their carts with the in-demand kitchen essential. The depiction should include only scenes, people, and objects, it should not include text or speech bubbles.
This image generation prompt was also generated by AI, using the following sequence:

Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You select one of a few potential scene descriptors that seems to go along with the variables described. You respond only with the scene descriptions provided and say nothing else.
User prompt: Here are two variables: American cheese consumption and The Home Depot's stock price (HD). Given these, which of the following image style descriptions seems most appropriate? Pick the one that seems to be related to one of the variables at hand. Please respond with only one of the following potential descriptions: a Polaroid photo Cubism Oragami Photorealism Brutalism
ChatGPT: Brutalism

Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You describe simple visual scenes that depict the two variables stated. You combine both variables into one scene.
User prompt: Please describe a visual scene that prominently depicts both American cheese consumption and The Home Depot's stock price (HD), in the following situation: The increase in American cheese consumption caused a surge in demand for cheese graters, leading to higher sales for The Home Depot, which in turn boosted their stock price as investors took note of the cheesy profits.. Keep the description simple.
ChatGPT: A busy Home Depot store with customers browsing through aisles of cheese graters, while the stock price ticker for HD prominently displays a steady rise in the background. The scent of melting American cheese wafts through the store as the customers excitedly fill their carts with the essential kitchen item, hinting at the surge in demand that led to the increase in stock price.

Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You write and improve image generation prompts for DALLE-3. You maintain the same subjects, but enhance the visuals.
User prompt: Please respond with an image generation prompt that would be likely to create an interesting visual using DALLE-3, using the following style: [ Brutalism ] and depicting this scene: A busy Home Depot store with customers browsing through aisles of cheese graters, while the stock price ticker for HD prominently displays a steady rise in the background. The scent of melting American cheese wafts through the store as the customers excitedly fill their carts with the essential kitchen item, hinting at the surge in demand that led to the increase in stock price. Keep the visual depiction simple. Do not include any words or speech bubbles.
ChatGPT: Generate an image in the style of Brutalism featuring a bustling Home Depot store. Customers are engaged in browsing through aisles filled with cheese graters. In the background, a stock price ticker for HD prominently displays a steady rise, symbolizing the company's success. The scene is infused with the scent of melting American cheese as customers eagerly fill their carts with the in-demand kitchen essential.

*Variations in the User Prompts from chart to chart are just the result of random number generation in Python. I wrote a few arrays of various styles and methods to ask questions to change up the results. Every time this site writes an explanation or generates an image, the script picks from each at random.

I sequence the requests into multiple prompts because I find GPT 3.5 to perform much better with short, well-managed contexts. Thus, I track the context directly in Python and only ask ChatGPT targeted questions.

Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106 (fine-tuned)
System prompt: You provide humorous responses in the form of plausible sounding explanations for correlations. You assume the correlation is causative for the purpose of the explanation even if it is ridiculous. You do not chat with the user, you only reply with the causal connection explanation and nothing else.
User prompt: Please make up a funny explanation for how an increase in American cheese consumption caused The Home Depot's stock price (HD) to increase. Make it feel plausible.

AI academic paper

(Because p < 0.01)
Melted Markets: The Cheddar Connection Between American Cheese Consumption and Home Depot's Stock Price

Journal of Dairy Economics and Retail Trends

Jan 2024

Reminder: This paper is AI-generated. Not real!
Quick note: This sequence is long and repetitive. That's how the prompt engineering works for this one. I manage the output in Python to format it into this PDF.




Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You write titles and abstracts of goofy academic research papers.
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, and add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please draft the title and abstract of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between American cheese consumption and The Home Depot's stock price (HD). You can't resist a good dad joke. Add a relevant dad joke related to the content every couple of sentences.

Make the title seem clever.

Your research team used data from USDA and LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv) to assess this nagging question. You found a correlation coefficient of 0.9590309 and p < 0.01 for 2002 to 2021.

Please respond in this format (replace "Lorem ipsum dolor sit" with your title and abstract)

[[TITLE]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit

[[ABSTRACT]]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit



ChatGPT:
[[TITLE]]
Melted Markets: The Cheddar Connection Between American Cheese Consumption and Home Depot's Stock Price

[[ABSTRACT]]
Grab your favorite cheese grater and calculator, because we are about to embark on a journey through the curious correlation between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price (HD). This study delves into the delightful world of cheese and finance in an attempt to unravel a string of Gouda luck and provolone paradoxes.

Through a rigorous analysis of data from the USDA and LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv), our research team unearthed a surprising connection between these seemingly unrelated entities. With a correlation coefficient of 0.9590309 and a p-value less than 0.01 for the period spanning from 2002 to 2021, our findings are certainly nothing to brie scoffed at.

It may seem gratey, but there's a sharp cheddar truth to be told here. It turns out that as American cheese consumption rises, so does the stock price of Home Depot. While some may have gouda skepticism about such a correlation, our findings are the real Monterey Jack deal.

So next time someone asks you to "brie"ng them some American cheese, you might want to consider investing in Home Depot as well - it could be a "gouda" decision! Remember, when it comes to finance and cheese, it's all about the whey you slice it.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You draft the introduction section of an academic research paper.
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, or add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please make up the introduction section of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between American cheese consumption and The Home Depot's stock price (HD). You can't resist a good dad joke. Add a relevant dad joke related to the content every couple of sentences. Sneak in some jokes and clever puns about science, research, statistics, and the variables.

Here is the title and abstract of the paper:
[[TITLE]]
Melted Markets: The Cheddar Connection Between American Cheese Consumption and Home Depot's Stock Price

[[ABSTRACT]]
Grab your favorite cheese grater and calculator, because we are about to embark on a journey through the curious correlation between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price (HD). This study delves into the delightful world of cheese and finance in an attempt to unravel a string of Gouda luck and provolone paradoxes.

Through a rigorous analysis of data from the USDA and LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv), our research team unearthed a surprising connection between these seemingly unrelated entities. With a correlation coefficient of 0.9590309 and a p-value less than 0.01 for the period spanning from 2002 to 2021, our findings are certainly nothing to brie scoffed at.

It may seem gratey, but there's a sharp cheddar truth to be told here. It turns out that as American cheese consumption rises, so does the stock price of Home Depot. While some may have gouda skepticism about such a correlation, our findings are the real Monterey Jack deal.

So next time someone asks you to "brie"ng them some American cheese, you might want to consider investing in Home Depot as well - it could be a "gouda" decision! Remember, when it comes to finance and cheese, it's all about the whey you slice it.

-------

Your response should start like this:

[[INTRODUCTION]]



ChatGPT:
[[INTRODUCTION]]

As the great Swiss scientist, Albert Einstein, once mused, "The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the HD aisle in The Home Depot." In this spirit of inquiry, we set out to investigate the curiously connected realms of American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot (HD).

It is a well-known fact that correlations do not necessarily imply causation, but sometimes, the combination of variables is so cheesy that it begs the question: could there be a deeper relationship at play here? Our exploration into this unexplored territory began with a slice of curiosity as sharp as a block of aged cheddar.

Cheese and stock prices may seem as unrelated as chalk and cheese, but there's more to it than meets the eye. This study aims to fill the hole-y gaps in the existing literature and provide a gouda understanding of the potential relationship between these two seemingly disparate entities. After all, who doesn't love a good statistical surprise? It's like finding a hidden cheese wheel in the back of the fridge - unexpected, but oh so satisfying.

With a sprinkle of skepticism and a dash of academic rigor, we delved into the data with the ferocity of a mouse in a cheese factory. The initial findings left us feeling rather bleu, but as we sliced through the data with precision, a picture began to emerge that was feta than we could have ever imagined. It was a gouda feeling, to say the least.

One of the core challenges of our investigation was to ensure that we were not merely scraping the cheese off the pizza, so to speak. Our statistical methodologies and research design aimed to melt away any confounding factors and get to the heart of the matter - a pursuit not unlike trying to find the right cheese for a perfect fondue.

Now, without further ado, let's embark on this journey through the cheddar-choked lanes of finance and consumption, where the stakes are high, the cheese is plenty, and the puns are as mature as a well-aged gouda. After all, in the world of research, it's not just about what you know – it's also about how you spray it.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You draft a literature review section of an academic research paper, that starts out dry for the first few sentences but then becomes hilarious and goofy.
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, or add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please make up a literature review section of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between American cheese consumption and The Home Depot's stock price (HD). You can't resist a good dad joke. Add a relevant dad joke related to the content every couple of sentences.

Speak in the present tense for this section (the authors find...), as is common in academic research paper literature reviews. Name the sources in a format similar to this: In "Book," the authors find lorem and ipsum.

Make up the lorem and ipsum part, but make it sound related to the topic at hand.

Start by naming serious-sounding studies by authors like Smith, Doe, and Jones - but then quickly devolve. Name some real non-fiction books that would be related to the topic. Then name some real fiction books that sound like they could be related. Perhaps you also got inspiration from some board games that are vaugely related.

Here is the title and abstract of the paper:
[[TITLE]]
Melted Markets: The Cheddar Connection Between American Cheese Consumption and Home Depot's Stock Price

[[ABSTRACT]]
Grab your favorite cheese grater and calculator, because we are about to embark on a journey through the curious correlation between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price (HD). This study delves into the delightful world of cheese and finance in an attempt to unravel a string of Gouda luck and provolone paradoxes.

Through a rigorous analysis of data from the USDA and LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv), our research team unearthed a surprising connection between these seemingly unrelated entities. With a correlation coefficient of 0.9590309 and a p-value less than 0.01 for the period spanning from 2002 to 2021, our findings are certainly nothing to brie scoffed at.

It may seem gratey, but there's a sharp cheddar truth to be told here. It turns out that as American cheese consumption rises, so does the stock price of Home Depot. While some may have gouda skepticism about such a correlation, our findings are the real Monterey Jack deal.

So next time someone asks you to "brie"ng them some American cheese, you might want to consider investing in Home Depot as well - it could be a "gouda" decision! Remember, when it comes to finance and cheese, it's all about the whey you slice it.

-------

And here is the introduction section that led to this literature review:
[[INTRODUCTION]]
As the great Swiss scientist, Albert Einstein, once mused, "The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the HD aisle in The Home Depot." In this spirit of inquiry, we set out to investigate the curiously connected realms of American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot (HD).
It is a well-known fact that correlations do not necessarily imply causation, but sometimes, the combination of variables is so cheesy that it begs the question: could there be a deeper relationship at play here? Our exploration into this unexplored territory began with a slice of curiosity as sharp as a block of aged cheddar.
Cheese and stock prices may seem as unrelated as chalk and cheese, but there's more to it than meets the eye. This study aims to fill the hole-y gaps in the existing literature and provide a gouda understanding of the potential relationship between these two seemingly disparate entities. After all, who doesn't love a good statistical surprise? It's like finding a hidden cheese wheel in the back of the fridge - unexpected, but oh so satisfying.
With a sprinkle of skepticism and a dash of academic rigor, we delved into the data with the ferocity of a mouse in a cheese factory. The initial findings left us feeling rather bleu, but as we sliced through the data with precision, a picture began to emerge that was feta than we could have ever imagined. It was a gouda feeling, to say the least.
One of the core challenges of our investigation was to ensure that we were not merely scraping the cheese off the pizza, so to speak. Our statistical methodologies and research design aimed to melt away any confounding factors and get to the heart of the matter - a pursuit not unlike trying to find the right cheese for a perfect fondue.
Now, without further ado, let's embark on this journey through the cheddar-choked lanes of finance and consumption, where the stakes are high, the cheese is plenty, and the puns are as mature as a well-aged gouda. After all, in the world of research, it's not just about what you know – it's also about how you spray it.

-------

Your response should start like this:

[[LITERATURE REVIEW]]



ChatGPT:
[[LITERATURE REVIEW]]

Previous research has primarily focused on the relationship between various economic indicators and stock prices, such as interest rates, inflation, and corporate earnings. However, an intriguing gap in the literature led our team to explore the correlation between American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot (HD). The findings of Smith et al. (2018) shed light on the importance of diverse data sources in uncovering unexpected connections in financial markets. Similarly, Doe and Jones (2020) emphasized the need for caution when interpreting statistically significant results in unconventional research domains.

Turning to more unconventional connections, "The Economics of Cheese: From Cheddar to Gouda" by Gruyère et al. (2015) provides an in-depth analysis of the global cheese market and its economic implications, offering a foundation for understanding the potential impact of cheese consumption on stock prices. On the flip side, "The Big Book of Home Improvement" by DIY Masters (2019) offers insights into the factors influencing Home Depot's stock performance, with no mention of dairy products, surprisingly.

In a puzzling twist, "The Cheese Gambit: A Financial Mystery" by Agatha Crustie (2010) presents a fictional narrative wherein a savvy investor uncovers a clandestine connection between cheese production and stock market movements. While purely fictional, the novel serves as a reminder of the enigmatic nature of financial markets and the potential for unexpected correlations to emerge.

Moreover, the board game "Monopoly: Home Improvement Edition" presents players with the opportunity to simulate investment decisions in a property development context, albeit without any explicit cheese-related elements. Nevertheless, the game highlights the complexity of financial decision-making and the myriad factors that can influence stock prices, including those as unlikely as cheese consumption patterns.

In "The Swiss Connection: The Fondue Factor" by Emmental and Brie (2017), the authors embark on a quest to uncover the mysterious origins of fondue and its potential impact on global financial markets. While the book offers more historical than empirical insights, it underscores the unexplored potential of culinary traditions in shaping economic trends.

Now, onto the dairy serious matter at hand – pun intended! As we delve into the empirical studies pertaining to American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price, it becomes clear that the interdisciplinary nature of this investigation is as cheddar-themed as it is unexpected. If nothing else, this literature review stands as evidence that in the realm of research, every cheesy idea deserves a thorough grilling.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You draft the methodology section of an academic research paper.
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, or add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please make up the methodology section of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between American cheese consumption and The Home Depot's stock price (HD). You can't resist a good dad joke. Add a relevant dad joke related to the content every couple of sentences. Sneak in some jokes and clever puns about science, research, statistics, and the variables.

Your research team collected data from all across the internet, but mostly just used information from USDA and LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv) . You used data from 2002 to 2021

Make up the research methods you don't know. Make them a bit goofy and convoluted.

Here is the title, abstract, and introduction of the paper:
[[TITLE]]
Melted Markets: The Cheddar Connection Between American Cheese Consumption and Home Depot's Stock Price

[[ABSTRACT]]
Grab your favorite cheese grater and calculator, because we are about to embark on a journey through the curious correlation between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price (HD). This study delves into the delightful world of cheese and finance in an attempt to unravel a string of Gouda luck and provolone paradoxes.

Through a rigorous analysis of data from the USDA and LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv), our research team unearthed a surprising connection between these seemingly unrelated entities. With a correlation coefficient of 0.9590309 and a p-value less than 0.01 for the period spanning from 2002 to 2021, our findings are certainly nothing to brie scoffed at.

It may seem gratey, but there's a sharp cheddar truth to be told here. It turns out that as American cheese consumption rises, so does the stock price of Home Depot. While some may have gouda skepticism about such a correlation, our findings are the real Monterey Jack deal.

So next time someone asks you to "brie"ng them some American cheese, you might want to consider investing in Home Depot as well - it could be a "gouda" decision! Remember, when it comes to finance and cheese, it's all about the whey you slice it.

[[INTRODUCTION]]
As the great Swiss scientist, Albert Einstein, once mused, "The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the HD aisle in The Home Depot." In this spirit of inquiry, we set out to investigate the curiously connected realms of American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot (HD).
It is a well-known fact that correlations do not necessarily imply causation, but sometimes, the combination of variables is so cheesy that it begs the question: could there be a deeper relationship at play here? Our exploration into this unexplored territory began with a slice of curiosity as sharp as a block of aged cheddar.
Cheese and stock prices may seem as unrelated as chalk and cheese, but there's more to it than meets the eye. This study aims to fill the hole-y gaps in the existing literature and provide a gouda understanding of the potential relationship between these two seemingly disparate entities. After all, who doesn't love a good statistical surprise? It's like finding a hidden cheese wheel in the back of the fridge - unexpected, but oh so satisfying.
With a sprinkle of skepticism and a dash of academic rigor, we delved into the data with the ferocity of a mouse in a cheese factory. The initial findings left us feeling rather bleu, but as we sliced through the data with precision, a picture began to emerge that was feta than we could have ever imagined. It was a gouda feeling, to say the least.
One of the core challenges of our investigation was to ensure that we were not merely scraping the cheese off the pizza, so to speak. Our statistical methodologies and research design aimed to melt away any confounding factors and get to the heart of the matter - a pursuit not unlike trying to find the right cheese for a perfect fondue.
Now, without further ado, let's embark on this journey through the cheddar-choked lanes of finance and consumption, where the stakes are high, the cheese is plenty, and the puns are as mature as a well-aged gouda. After all, in the world of research, it's not just about what you know – it's also about how you spray it.

-------

Your response should start like this:

[[METHODOLOGY]]



ChatGPT:

[[METHODOLOGY]]

To conduct this cheesy investigation, we employed a combination of data collection, statistical analysis, and a sprinkle of humor to navigate the cheddar-choked lanes of finance and consumption. Our research team put on their metaphorical cheese hats and commenced the data collection process with the precision of a cheese slicer. We sourced data from various reputable sources, including the USDA and LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv), to ensure a comprehensive representation of American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price (HD) from 2002 to 2021.

Our initial step involved delving into the depths of the USDA's cheese consumption statistics, where we encountered a mountain of numerical values that could make even the most stalwart statistician quiver in their curds. We then harnessed the power of LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv) to procure detailed stock price data for Home Depot, navigating the financial data landscape with the finesse of a seasoned cheese monger.

Once armed with this mountainous mound of data, we set out to conduct a thorough statistical analysis without creating a cheesy mess. We embraced a mixed-method approach, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative techniques to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the correlative dynamics at play.

First, we subjected the data to a rigorous examination of descriptive statistics, unraveling the mean, median, standard deviation, and other tantalizing statistical measures. We took care to slice through the numbers with the precision of a Swiss cheese slicer, ensuring that no statistical crumb was left unturned.

Next, we embarked on a visual exploration of the data, employing time series plots to uncover any trending patterns that may have been camouflaged amidst the sea of numerical data. As we charted the rise and fall of American cheese consumption alongside Home Depot's stock price, it almost felt like we were conducting a cheese-tasting event for the data itself.

In addition to our love affair with descriptive statistics and visual representations, we turned our attention towards the extent of the relationship between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price (HD). Employing the potent tools of correlation analysis, we calculated the Pearson correlation coefficient to quantify the strength and direction of the relationship. The results left us feeling grate, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9590309 that could make even a lactose-intolerant statistician lacteal with excitement.

With the correlation coefficient in hand, we proceeded to gauge the statistical significance of our findings through the venerable tool of hypothesis testing. Employing the almighty p-value, we sought to determine whether the observed relationship between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price was simply a stroke of gouda luck or a meaningful connection worthy of further investigation.

Our methodology, akin to a well-crafted cheese plate, combined the finesse of statistics with the enjoyment of discovery, resulting in a study that's as rich and flavorful as a perfectly aged cheddar.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You draft the results section of an academic research paper. You speak in the past tense (you found...).
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, or add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please make up the results section of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between American cheese consumption and The Home Depot's stock price (HD). You can't resist a good dad joke. Add a relevant dad joke related to the content every couple of sentences. Sneak in some jokes and clever puns about science, research, statistics, and the variables.

Your research team collected data from all across the internet, but mostly just used information from USDA and LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv) .

For the time period 2002 to 2021, you found a correlation 0.9590309, r-squared of 0.9197404, and p < 0.01.

One figure will be included. The figure (Fig. 1) is a scatterplot showing the strong correlation between the two variables. You don't need to specify where; I will add the figure.

Here is the title and abstract of the paper:
[[TITLE]]
Melted Markets: The Cheddar Connection Between American Cheese Consumption and Home Depot's Stock Price

[[ABSTRACT]]
Grab your favorite cheese grater and calculator, because we are about to embark on a journey through the curious correlation between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price (HD). This study delves into the delightful world of cheese and finance in an attempt to unravel a string of Gouda luck and provolone paradoxes.

Through a rigorous analysis of data from the USDA and LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv), our research team unearthed a surprising connection between these seemingly unrelated entities. With a correlation coefficient of 0.9590309 and a p-value less than 0.01 for the period spanning from 2002 to 2021, our findings are certainly nothing to brie scoffed at.

It may seem gratey, but there's a sharp cheddar truth to be told here. It turns out that as American cheese consumption rises, so does the stock price of Home Depot. While some may have gouda skepticism about such a correlation, our findings are the real Monterey Jack deal.

So next time someone asks you to "brie"ng them some American cheese, you might want to consider investing in Home Depot as well - it could be a "gouda" decision! Remember, when it comes to finance and cheese, it's all about the whey you slice it.

-------

And here is the methodology section that led to this result:
[[METHODOLOGY]]
As the great Swiss scientist, Albert Einstein, once mused, "The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the HD aisle in The Home Depot." In this spirit of inquiry, we set out to investigate the curiously connected realms of American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot (HD).
It is a well-known fact that correlations do not necessarily imply causation, but sometimes, the combination of variables is so cheesy that it begs the question: could there be a deeper relationship at play here? Our exploration into this unexplored territory began with a slice of curiosity as sharp as a block of aged cheddar.
Cheese and stock prices may seem as unrelated as chalk and cheese, but there's more to it than meets the eye. This study aims to fill the hole-y gaps in the existing literature and provide a gouda understanding of the potential relationship between these two seemingly disparate entities. After all, who doesn't love a good statistical surprise? It's like finding a hidden cheese wheel in the back of the fridge - unexpected, but oh so satisfying.
With a sprinkle of skepticism and a dash of academic rigor, we delved into the data with the ferocity of a mouse in a cheese factory. The initial findings left us feeling rather bleu, but as we sliced through the data with precision, a picture began to emerge that was feta than we could have ever imagined. It was a gouda feeling, to say the least.
One of the core challenges of our investigation was to ensure that we were not merely scraping the cheese off the pizza, so to speak. Our statistical methodologies and research design aimed to melt away any confounding factors and get to the heart of the matter - a pursuit not unlike trying to find the right cheese for a perfect fondue.
Now, without further ado, let's embark on this journey through the cheddar-choked lanes of finance and consumption, where the stakes are high, the cheese is plenty, and the puns are as mature as a well-aged gouda. After all, in the world of research, it's not just about what you know – it's also about how you spray it.

-------

Your response should start like this:

[[RESULTS]]



ChatGPT:

[[RESULTS]]

The results of our analysis revealed a strong correlation between American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot (HD) over the period from 2002 to 2021. The correlation coefficient obtained was 0.9590309, indicating a remarkably close relationship between these two seemingly unrelated variables. This correlation was statistically significant, with an r-squared value of 0.9197404 and a p-value less than 0.01, suggesting that the relationship is not merely coincidental, but rather substantive.

The scatterplot (Fig. 1) depicting the relationship between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price vividly illustrates this strong positive correlation. As American cheese consumption increases, the stock price of Home Depot also tends to rise, forming a pattern that is as sharp as a well-aged gouda.

It seems that when it comes to the finance and the dairy aisle, it's not just a matter of cheddar, but a case of real Swiss banking. This correlation lays the foundation for some serious "stock" of cheese-related investment strategies - talk about putting the "dairy" in "financial intermediary"!

The strength of this correlation suggests that there may be deeper economic forces at play, potentially involving consumer sentiment, market demand, or even a cheese-induced mood uplift among investors. It's a provolone paradox, indeed. It could be that American cheese consumption acts as a cheesy leading economic indicator - who would have thought that the state of the economy could be so gouda-ed by dairy?

In conclusion, the findings of this study provide compelling evidence of a strong and positive correlation between American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot. The implications of this connection stretch beyond the realms of finance and consumption, venturing into the uncharted territories of dairy economics. So the next time you're at the supermarket debating between Swiss or cheddar, remember that your investment portfolio might thank you for choosing the American cheese and a trip to Home Depot. After all, in the world of finance, it's not just about the cheddar - it's also about the whey you slice it.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You draft the discussion section of an academic research paper.
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, or add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please make up the discussion section of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between American cheese consumption and The Home Depot's stock price (HD). You can't resist a good dad joke. Add a relevant dad joke related to the content every couple of sentences. Sneak in some jokes and clever puns about science, research, statistics, and the variables.

Limit your response to 500 tokens.

Here are the title, abstract, literature review, and results sections. Please harken back to 1-2 of the goofy items in the literature review, but pretend to take them completely seriously. Discuss how your results supported the prior research.

Do not write a conclusion. I will add a conclusion after this.

[[TITLE]]
Melted Markets: The Cheddar Connection Between American Cheese Consumption and Home Depot's Stock Price

[[ABSTRACT]]
Grab your favorite cheese grater and calculator, because we are about to embark on a journey through the curious correlation between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price (HD). This study delves into the delightful world of cheese and finance in an attempt to unravel a string of Gouda luck and provolone paradoxes.

Through a rigorous analysis of data from the USDA and LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv), our research team unearthed a surprising connection between these seemingly unrelated entities. With a correlation coefficient of 0.9590309 and a p-value less than 0.01 for the period spanning from 2002 to 2021, our findings are certainly nothing to brie scoffed at.

It may seem gratey, but there's a sharp cheddar truth to be told here. It turns out that as American cheese consumption rises, so does the stock price of Home Depot. While some may have gouda skepticism about such a correlation, our findings are the real Monterey Jack deal.

So next time someone asks you to "brie"ng them some American cheese, you might want to consider investing in Home Depot as well - it could be a "gouda" decision! Remember, when it comes to finance and cheese, it's all about the whey you slice it.

[[LITERATURE REVIEW]]
Previous research has primarily focused on the relationship between various economic indicators and stock prices, such as interest rates, inflation, and corporate earnings. However, an intriguing gap in the literature led our team to explore the correlation between American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot (HD). The findings of Smith et al. (2018) shed light on the importance of diverse data sources in uncovering unexpected connections in financial markets. Similarly, Doe and Jones (2020) emphasized the need for caution when interpreting statistically significant results in unconventional research domains.
Turning to more unconventional connections, "The Economics of Cheese: From Cheddar to Gouda" by Gruyère et al. (2015) provides an in-depth analysis of the global cheese market and its economic implications, offering a foundation for understanding the potential impact of cheese consumption on stock prices. On the flip side, "The Big Book of Home Improvement" by DIY Masters (2019) offers insights into the factors influencing Home Depot's stock performance, with no mention of dairy products, surprisingly.
In a puzzling twist, "The Cheese Gambit: A Financial Mystery" by Agatha Crustie (2010) presents a fictional narrative wherein a savvy investor uncovers a clandestine connection between cheese production and stock market movements. While purely fictional, the novel serves as a reminder of the enigmatic nature of financial markets and the potential for unexpected correlations to emerge.
Moreover, the board game "Monopoly: Home Improvement Edition" presents players with the opportunity to simulate investment decisions in a property development context, albeit without any explicit cheese-related elements. Nevertheless, the game highlights the complexity of financial decision-making and the myriad factors that can influence stock prices, including those as unlikely as cheese consumption patterns.
In "The Swiss Connection: The Fondue Factor" by Emmental and Brie (2017), the authors embark on a quest to uncover the mysterious origins of fondue and its potential impact on global financial markets. While the book offers more historical than empirical insights, it underscores the unexplored potential of culinary traditions in shaping economic trends.
Now, onto the dairy serious matter at hand – pun intended! As we delve into the empirical studies pertaining to American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price, it becomes clear that the interdisciplinary nature of this investigation is as cheddar-themed as it is unexpected. If nothing else, this literature review stands as evidence that in the realm of research, every cheesy idea deserves a thorough grilling.

[[RESULTS]]
The results of our analysis revealed a strong correlation between American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot (HD) over the period from 2002 to 2021. The correlation coefficient obtained was 0.9590309, indicating a remarkably close relationship between these two seemingly unrelated variables. This correlation was statistically significant, with an r-squared value of 0.9197404 and a p-value less than 0.01, suggesting that the relationship is not merely coincidental, but rather substantive.
The scatterplot (Fig. 1) depicting the relationship between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price vividly illustrates this strong positive correlation. As American cheese consumption increases, the stock price of Home Depot also tends to rise, forming a pattern that is as sharp as a well-aged gouda.
It seems that when it comes to the finance and the dairy aisle, it's not just a matter of cheddar, but a case of real Swiss banking. This correlation lays the foundation for some serious "stock" of cheese-related investment strategies - talk about putting the "dairy" in "financial intermediary"!
The strength of this correlation suggests that there may be deeper economic forces at play, potentially involving consumer sentiment, market demand, or even a cheese-induced mood uplift among investors. It's a provolone paradox, indeed. It could be that American cheese consumption acts as a cheesy leading economic indicator - who would have thought that the state of the economy could be so gouda-ed by dairy?
In conclusion, the findings of this study provide compelling evidence of a strong and positive correlation between American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot. The implications of this connection stretch beyond the realms of finance and consumption, venturing into the uncharted territories of dairy economics. So the next time you're at the supermarket debating between Swiss or cheddar, remember that your investment portfolio might thank you for choosing the American cheese and a trip to Home Depot. After all, in the world of finance, it's not just about the cheddar - it's also about the whey you slice it.

-------

Your response should start like this:

[[DISCUSSION]]



ChatGPT:

[[DISCUSSION]]

Our findings provide empirical support for the unexpected yet robust relationship between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price, adding a slice of credibility to the previously underexplored cheese-finance nexus. The strong positive correlation we uncovered aligns with the anomalous insights put forth by Agatha Crustie (2010) in her fictional account of the "The Cheese Gambit," although our study substantiates this link with real-world data.

In line with the warnings of Doe and Jones (2020), we approached our analysis with due caution, acknowledging the potential for spurious correlations in unconventional research domains - but it seems our results are the real, unadulterated cheese deal. The examination of seemingly nonparallel variables has yielded results sharper than an aged cheddar, indicating that there may be more to be gleaned from the consumption of American cheese than meets the eye.

It's no 'gouda' news that our findings may have broader implications for cheese aficionados and investors alike. As we venture into the perplexing world of dairy economics, we can't help but marvel at the extent to which the cheesy goodness of American cheese might flavor not only culinary experiences but also the stock market trends. This correlation is no laughing 'muenster,' and it highlights the importance of exploring unconventional connections in financial markets.

The literature review serves as a reminder of the unexpected and interwoven nature of research questions, much like how the holes in Swiss cheese are thought to intensify its flavors. The interdisciplinary flavor of our investigation underscores the importance of embracing seemingly implausible hypotheses and subjecting them to rigorous empirical scrutiny. It's evidence that in the realm of research, every cheesy idea deserves a thorough grilling.

It's clear that the relationship between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price is not merely a coincidental occurrence, but a substantive association with real economic implications. It seems that diving into the cheesy depths of dairy economics has led us to a treasure trove of market insights that are, in fact, not just 'brie'f and imaginary.

In this dairy serious work, we've churned out some 'gouda' results that may have investors rethinking their portfolios and contemplating the underestimated power of cheese consumption in shaping market dynamics. So next time you're pondering between 'bleu' and Swiss, remember that your investment decisions might just be guided by the finest selection of American cheese on the shelf - a 'ma-soured' strategy that could prove 'feta' than expected. After all, in the world of finance, it's not just about the cheddar - it's also about the whey you slice it.

And on that 'cheddar' note, our findings indicate that the connection between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price is nothing to brie-little. The strong correlation uncovered in this study may prompt further exploration into the potential economic implications of cheese consumption, revealing that the market dynamics are, indeed, a 'grate' and mysterious craft.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You are a witty academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a statistics journal.You draft the discussion section of goofy academic research papers that sounds like it belongs based on the title and abstract provided.
User prompt:
Pretend you are an academic researcher. Your writing sounds like it belongs in a medical or economics journal. However, you frequently crack jokes, make puns, or add unexpected twists in your writing.

Please make up a short conclusion of an academic research paper presenting the findings of the connection between American cheese consumption and The Home Depot's stock price (HD). You can't resist a good dad joke. Add a relevant dad joke related to the content every couple of sentences. Sneak in some jokes and clever puns about science, research, statistics, and the variables.

Limit your response to 300 tokens. At the very end, assert that no more research is needed in this area.

Here are the title, abstract, introduction, and results sections.
[[TITLE]]
Melted Markets: The Cheddar Connection Between American Cheese Consumption and Home Depot's Stock Price

[[ABSTRACT]]
Grab your favorite cheese grater and calculator, because we are about to embark on a journey through the curious correlation between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price (HD). This study delves into the delightful world of cheese and finance in an attempt to unravel a string of Gouda luck and provolone paradoxes.

Through a rigorous analysis of data from the USDA and LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv), our research team unearthed a surprising connection between these seemingly unrelated entities. With a correlation coefficient of 0.9590309 and a p-value less than 0.01 for the period spanning from 2002 to 2021, our findings are certainly nothing to brie scoffed at.

It may seem gratey, but there's a sharp cheddar truth to be told here. It turns out that as American cheese consumption rises, so does the stock price of Home Depot. While some may have gouda skepticism about such a correlation, our findings are the real Monterey Jack deal.

So next time someone asks you to "brie"ng them some American cheese, you might want to consider investing in Home Depot as well - it could be a "gouda" decision! Remember, when it comes to finance and cheese, it's all about the whey you slice it.

[[INTRDUCTION]]
As the great Swiss scientist, Albert Einstein, once mused, "The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the HD aisle in The Home Depot." In this spirit of inquiry, we set out to investigate the curiously connected realms of American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot (HD).
It is a well-known fact that correlations do not necessarily imply causation, but sometimes, the combination of variables is so cheesy that it begs the question: could there be a deeper relationship at play here? Our exploration into this unexplored territory began with a slice of curiosity as sharp as a block of aged cheddar.
Cheese and stock prices may seem as unrelated as chalk and cheese, but there's more to it than meets the eye. This study aims to fill the hole-y gaps in the existing literature and provide a gouda understanding of the potential relationship between these two seemingly disparate entities. After all, who doesn't love a good statistical surprise? It's like finding a hidden cheese wheel in the back of the fridge - unexpected, but oh so satisfying.
With a sprinkle of skepticism and a dash of academic rigor, we delved into the data with the ferocity of a mouse in a cheese factory. The initial findings left us feeling rather bleu, but as we sliced through the data with precision, a picture began to emerge that was feta than we could have ever imagined. It was a gouda feeling, to say the least.
One of the core challenges of our investigation was to ensure that we were not merely scraping the cheese off the pizza, so to speak. Our statistical methodologies and research design aimed to melt away any confounding factors and get to the heart of the matter - a pursuit not unlike trying to find the right cheese for a perfect fondue.
Now, without further ado, let's embark on this journey through the cheddar-choked lanes of finance and consumption, where the stakes are high, the cheese is plenty, and the puns are as mature as a well-aged gouda. After all, in the world of research, it's not just about what you know – it's also about how you spray it.

[[RESULTS]]
The results of our analysis revealed a strong correlation between American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot (HD) over the period from 2002 to 2021. The correlation coefficient obtained was 0.9590309, indicating a remarkably close relationship between these two seemingly unrelated variables. This correlation was statistically significant, with an r-squared value of 0.9197404 and a p-value less than 0.01, suggesting that the relationship is not merely coincidental, but rather substantive.
The scatterplot (Fig. 1) depicting the relationship between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price vividly illustrates this strong positive correlation. As American cheese consumption increases, the stock price of Home Depot also tends to rise, forming a pattern that is as sharp as a well-aged gouda.
It seems that when it comes to the finance and the dairy aisle, it's not just a matter of cheddar, but a case of real Swiss banking. This correlation lays the foundation for some serious "stock" of cheese-related investment strategies - talk about putting the "dairy" in "financial intermediary"!
The strength of this correlation suggests that there may be deeper economic forces at play, potentially involving consumer sentiment, market demand, or even a cheese-induced mood uplift among investors. It's a provolone paradox, indeed. It could be that American cheese consumption acts as a cheesy leading economic indicator - who would have thought that the state of the economy could be so gouda-ed by dairy?
In conclusion, the findings of this study provide compelling evidence of a strong and positive correlation between American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot. The implications of this connection stretch beyond the realms of finance and consumption, venturing into the uncharted territories of dairy economics. So the next time you're at the supermarket debating between Swiss or cheddar, remember that your investment portfolio might thank you for choosing the American cheese and a trip to Home Depot. After all, in the world of finance, it's not just about the cheddar - it's also about the whey you slice it.

-------

Your response should start like this:

[[CONCLUSION]]



ChatGPT:

[[CONCLUSION]]

In conclusion, it is clear that the link between American cheese consumption and the stock price of Home Depot (HD) is not just a cheesy coincidence, but a substantial relationship that can't be brie-shed aside. Our findings melt away any doubts about the cheddar connection between these two seemingly unrelated variables, leaving us with a sense of awe like a perfectly crafted cheese soufflé - a true testament to the power of statistical analysis and dad jokes.

As we wrap up this study, it's worth emphasizing that the evidence presented here is no "gouda-days." The statistical significance uncovered in our analysis suggests that there is something more than just a mere correlation at work. It's like the perfect pairing of wine and cheese - a match made in statistical heaven.

The implications of our findings may stretch beyond the realms of finance and consumption, paving the whey for a new era of "dairy economics" that is as rich and creamy as a triple-cream brie. It's a "grate" revelation that adds a whole new layer of complexity to the world of financial analysis. After all, who would have thought that the fluctuation in Home Depot's stock price could be linked to the ebb and flow of American cheese consumption? It's enough to make anyone "fondue" of statistics and economic research!

In light of these findings, it seems that further research in this area is as futile as trying to resist a perfectly aged parmesan - unnecessary. It's safe to say that we've "cheddar-ed" as much light as possible on this peculiar relationship. So, next time someone asks, "What's up with American cheese and Home Depot's stock price?" - the answer is as clear as a paneer: it's a "gouda" investment opportunity!

No more research is needed in this area.


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You provide fictional names of academic journals. You say nothing else, and you do not chat with the user.
User prompt: Please provide the name of a funny but plausible sounding research, scientific, or academic journal that would publish a paper entited Melted Markets: The Cheddar Connection Between American Cheese Consumption and Home Depot's Stock Price. Respond only with the name of a fictional academic journal.

ChatGPT:

Journal of Dairy Economics and Retail Trends


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You provide fictional names of nonprofit research organizations and associations. You say nothing else, and you do not chat with the user.
User prompt: Please provide the name of a funny but plausible sounding nonprofit, academic, or scientific association or organization that would sponsor research that resulted in a paper entited Melted Markets: The Cheddar Connection Between American Cheese Consumption and Home Depot's Stock Price. Respond only with the name of a fictional organization.

ChatGPT:

The Society for Dairy-Induced Economic Trends


Model: gpt-3.5-turbo-1106
System prompt: You provide potential search keywords separated by commas. You say nothing else, and you do not chat with the user.
User prompt: Please provide potential search keywords for a paper titled Melted Markets: The Cheddar Connection Between American Cheese Consumption and Home Depot's Stock Price with an abstract of Grab your favorite cheese grater and calculator, because we are about to embark on a journey through the curious correlation between American cheese consumption and Home Depot's stock price (HD). This study delves into the delightful world of cheese and finance in an attempt to unravel a string of Gouda luck and provolone paradoxes.
Through a rigorous analysis of data from the USDA and LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv), our research team unearthed a surprising connection between these seemingly unrelated entities. With a correlation coefficient of 0.9590309 and a p-value less than 0.01 for the period spanning from 2002 to 2021, our findings are certainly nothing to brie scoffed at.
It may seem gratey, but there's a sharp cheddar truth to be told here. It turns out that as American cheese consumption rises, so does the stock price of Home Depot. While some may have gouda skepticism about such a correlation, our findings are the real Monterey Jack deal.
So next time someone asks you to "brie"ng them some American cheese, you might want to consider investing in Home Depot as well - it could be a "gouda" decision! Remember, when it comes to finance and cheese, it's all about the whey you slice it.

ChatGPT:

American cheese consumption, Home Depot stock price, correlation, finance, USDA data, LSEG Analytics, Refinitiv, stock market, investment, cheese consumption trends, financial analysis, statistical correlation, consumer behavior, market trends

*There is a bunch of Python happening behind the scenes to turn this prompt sequence into a PDF.



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Data details

American cheese consumption
Detailed data title: Per capita consumption of American cheese in the US
Source: USDA
See what else correlates with American cheese consumption

The Home Depot's stock price (HD)
Detailed data title: Opening price of The Home Depot (HD) on the first trading day of the year
Source: LSEG Analytics (Refinitiv)
Additional Info: Via Microsoft Excel Stockhistory function

See what else correlates with The Home Depot's stock price (HD)

Correlation r = 0.9590309 (Pearson correlation coefficient)
Correlation is a measure of how much the variables move together. If it is 0.99, when one goes up the other goes up. If it is 0.02, the connection is very weak or non-existent. If it is -0.99, then when one goes up the other goes down. If it is 1.00, you probably messed up your correlation function.

r2 = 0.9197404 (Coefficient of determination)
This means 92% of the change in the one variable (i.e., The Home Depot's stock price (HD)) is predictable based on the change in the other (i.e., American cheese consumption) over the 20 years from 2002 through 2021.

p < 0.01, which is statistically significant(Null hypothesis significance test)
The p-value is 2.7E-11. 0.0000000000266097546287262670
The p-value is a measure of how probable it is that we would randomly find a result this extreme. More specifically the p-value is a measure of how probable it is that we would randomly find a result this extreme if we had only tested one pair of variables one time.

But I am a p-villain. I absolutely did not test only one pair of variables one time. I correlated hundreds of millions of pairs of variables. I threw boatloads of data into an industrial-sized blender to find this correlation.

Who is going to stop me? p-value reporting doesn't require me to report how many calculations I had to go through in order to find a low p-value!
On average, you will find a correaltion as strong as 0.96 in 2.7E-9% of random cases. Said differently, if you correlated 37,580,203,724 random variables You don't actually need 37 billion variables to find a correlation like this one. I don't have that many variables in my database. You can also correlate variables that are not independent. I do this a lot.

p-value calculations are useful for understanding the probability of a result happening by chance. They are most useful when used to highlight the risk of a fluke outcome. For example, if you calculate a p-value of 0.30, the risk that the result is a fluke is high. It is good to know that! But there are lots of ways to get a p-value of less than 0.01, as evidenced by this project.

In this particular case, the values are so extreme as to be meaningless. That's why no one reports p-values with specificity after they drop below 0.01.

Just to be clear: I'm being completely transparent about the calculations. There is no math trickery. This is just how statistics shakes out when you calculate hundreds of millions of random correlations.
with the same 19 degrees of freedom, Degrees of freedom is a measure of how many free components we are testing. In this case it is 19 because we have two variables measured over a period of 20 years. It's just the number of years minus ( the number of variables minus one ), which in this case simplifies to the number of years minus one.
you would randomly expect to find a correlation as strong as this one.

[ 0.9, 0.98 ] 95% correlation confidence interval (using the Fisher z-transformation)
The confidence interval is an estimate the range of the value of the correlation coefficient, using the correlation itself as an input. The values are meant to be the low and high end of the correlation coefficient with 95% confidence.

This one is a bit more complciated than the other calculations, but I include it because many people have been pushing for confidence intervals instead of p-value calculations (for example: NEJM. However, if you are dredging data, you can reliably find yourself in the 5%. That's my goal!


All values for the years included above: If I were being very sneaky, I could trim years from the beginning or end of the datasets to increase the correlation on some pairs of variables. I don't do that because there are already plenty of correlations in my database without monkeying with the years.

Still, sometimes one of the variables has more years of data available than the other. This page only shows the overlapping years. To see all the years, click on "See what else correlates with..." link above.
20022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021
American cheese consumption (Pounds per person)12.831412.561912.861212.64913.065612.792913.130613.355313.304813.039213.256913.357313.665614.044414.362115.090115.402715.538915.516.1
The Home Depot's stock price (HD) (Stock price)51.0124.2135.7542.9940.3941.327.1323.0729.1535.242.4163.5782.11105.16130.11135.1190.21169.71219.08266.01




Why this works

  1. Data dredging: I have 25,153 variables in my database. I compare all these variables against each other to find ones that randomly match up. That's 632,673,409 correlation calculations! This is called “data dredging.” Instead of starting with a hypothesis and testing it, I instead abused the data to see what correlations shake out. It’s a dangerous way to go about analysis, because any sufficiently large dataset will yield strong correlations completely at random.
  2. Lack of causal connection: There is probably Because these pages are automatically generated, it's possible that the two variables you are viewing are in fact causually related. I take steps to prevent the obvious ones from showing on the site (I don't let data about the weather in one city correlate with the weather in a neighboring city, for example), but sometimes they still pop up. If they are related, cool! You found a loophole.
    no direct connection between these variables, despite what the AI says above. This is exacerbated by the fact that I used "Years" as the base variable. Lots of things happen in a year that are not related to each other! Most studies would use something like "one person" in stead of "one year" to be the "thing" studied.
  3. Observations not independent: For many variables, sequential years are not independent of each other. If a population of people is continuously doing something every day, there is no reason to think they would suddenly change how they are doing that thing on January 1. A simple Personally I don't find any p-value calculation to be 'simple,' but you know what I mean.
    p-value calculation does not take this into account, so mathematically it appears less probable than it really is.
  4. Y-axis doesn't start at zero: I truncated the Y-axes of the graph above. I also used a line graph, which makes the visual connection stand out more than it deserves. Nothing against line graphs. They are great at telling a story when you have linear data! But visually it is deceptive because the only data is at the points on the graph, not the lines on the graph. In between each point, the data could have been doing anything. Like going for a random walk by itself!
    Mathematically what I showed is true, but it is intentionally misleading. Below is the same chart but with both Y-axes starting at zero.




Try it yourself

You can calculate the values on this page on your own! Try running the Python code to see the calculation results. Step 1: Download and install Python on your computer.

Step 2: Open a plaintext editor like Notepad and paste the code below into it.

Step 3: Save the file as "calculate_correlation.py" in a place you will remember, like your desktop. Copy the file location to your clipboard. On Windows, you can right-click the file and click "Properties," and then copy what comes after "Location:" As an example, on my computer the location is "C:\Users\tyler\Desktop"

Step 4: Open a command line window. For example, by pressing start and typing "cmd" and them pressing enter.

Step 5: Install the required modules by typing "pip install numpy", then pressing enter, then typing "pip install scipy", then pressing enter.

Step 6: Navigate to the location where you saved the Python file by using the "cd" command. For example, I would type "cd C:\Users\tyler\Desktop" and push enter.

Step 7: Run the Python script by typing "python calculate_correlation.py"

If you run into any issues, I suggest asking ChatGPT to walk you through installing Python and running the code below on your system. Try this question:

"Walk me through installing Python on my computer to run a script that uses scipy and numpy. Go step-by-step and ask me to confirm before moving on. Start by asking me questions about my operating system so that you know how to proceed. Assume I want the simplest installation with the latest version of Python and that I do not currently have any of the necessary elements installed. Remember to only give me one step per response and confirm I have done it before proceeding."


# These modules make it easier to perform the calculation
import numpy as np
from scipy import stats

# We'll define a function that we can call to return the correlation calculations
def calculate_correlation(array1, array2):

    # Calculate Pearson correlation coefficient and p-value
    correlation, p_value = stats.pearsonr(array1, array2)

    # Calculate R-squared as the square of the correlation coefficient
    r_squared = correlation**2

    return correlation, r_squared, p_value

# These are the arrays for the variables shown on this page, but you can modify them to be any two sets of numbers
array_1 = np.array([12.8314,12.5619,12.8612,12.649,13.0656,12.7929,13.1306,13.3553,13.3048,13.0392,13.2569,13.3573,13.6656,14.0444,14.3621,15.0901,15.4027,15.5389,15.5,16.1,])
array_2 = np.array([51.01,24.21,35.75,42.99,40.39,41.3,27.13,23.07,29.15,35.2,42.41,63.57,82.11,105.16,130.11,135.1,190.21,169.71,219.08,266.01,])
array_1_name = "American cheese consumption"
array_2_name = "The Home Depot's stock price (HD)"

# Perform the calculation
print(f"Calculating the correlation between {array_1_name} and {array_2_name}...")
correlation, r_squared, p_value = calculate_correlation(array_1, array_2)

# Print the results
print("Correlation Coefficient:", correlation)
print("R-squared:", r_squared)
print("P-value:", p_value)



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Correlation ID: 3528 · Black Variable ID: 553 · Red Variable ID: 1560
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