computer science

Guess the Correlation

Guess the Correlation is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Guess the Correlation rather than just read about it. In short: Guess the Correlation is a minimalistic browser-based game with a purpose developed in 2016 by Omar Wagih at the European Bioinformatics Institute. The game was developed to study human perception in scatter plots.

Key takeaways

Guess the Correlation belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Guess the Correlation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Guess the Correlation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Guess the Correlation is a minimalistic browser-based game with a purpose developed in 2016 by Omar Wagih at the European Bioinformatics Institute. The game was developed to study human perception in scatter plots. Players are presented with a stream of scatter plots depicting the relationship between two random variables and are asked to guess how positively correlated they are. Guesses closer to the real correlation are rewarded more points. The game features both single and two-player modes and has a retro 8-bit design and sound effects. Collected guesses are used to better understand how humans perceive correlations in scatter plots by identifying features within scatter plots, such as outliers, that cause players to over or under estimate the true correlation. By 1 February 2016, over 2 million guesses had been collected from 100,000 participants.

Gameplay

In the single-player mode, players are presented with a stream of scatter plots depicting the relationship between two random variables. The aim is to guess the true Pearson correlation coefficient, where the guess can range from 0 (no correlation) to 1 (perfect positive correlation). Players start out with three lives and no points. Guesses made within 0.05 of the true correlation are awarded a life and five points. Guesses made within 0.10 are awarded one point, and guesses over 0.10 are not awarded any points and a life is deducted. The game ends when the player has run out of lives. In the two player mode, opponents challenge each other at guessing the true correlation. Once a session has been initiated between two players, both players are presented with the same scatter plot. The player with the closest guess to true correlation is awarded a point. In the event of a draw, no points are awarded to either player. The first player to reach 10 points is declared the winner.

See also Citizen science Game with a purpose List of crowdsourcing projects

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Guess the Correlation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Guess the Correlation claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Guess the Correlation before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Guess the Correlation ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Guess the Correlation

In research: Guess the Correlation appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Guess the Correlation in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Guess the Correlation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2016 video games, Browser games, Human-based computation games, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Guess the Correlation outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Guess the Correlation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Guess the Correlation means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Guess the Correlation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Guess the Correlation in simple terms?

Why does Guess the Correlation matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Guess the Correlation?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Guess the Correlation.