Eli5: What is the difference between correlation and causation
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Causation is the ability of one variable to influence the other. What that means is that by changing one thing, it CAUSES the other to change.
Correlation is the relationship between two sets of data. You can have positive correlation, negative correlation, or NO correlation.
Just because there is correlation, it does not mean there is CAUSATION. A great example of it is this graph of global temperature and amount of pirates ( https://churchoftheflyingspaghettimonsteraustralia.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/pchart1.jpg )
This shows a correlation of pirates and global temperature. It’s joking trying to imply that if we increase the amount of pirates, we will decrease global warming. The data is correlated, but it is not causative.
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