Computing Pearson's Correlation Coefficient
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The formula for Pearson's correlation takes on many forms. A commonly used formula is shown below. The formula looks a bit complicated, but taken step by step as shown in the numerical example, it is really quite simple.
A simpler looking formula can be used if the numbers are converted into z scores:
where zx is the variable X converted into z scores and zy is the variable Y converted into z scores.
Computing Pearson's r in SPSS
Computing Pearson's r in EXCEL
Next section: Example values