Read the Dots

Start with four pinned x-y pairs. Each row becomes one dot. The dots move up as x gets larger in this tiny dataset: A = (1, 2) sits low, while D = (4, 7) sits higher.

Honesty

These four dots are for reading the chart. They do not prove that x causes y, or that the same pattern will hold in other data.

A tiny x-y scatter readout: plot pinned pairs as dots, read one visible pattern, and keep the honesty boundary explicit.

highlighted = computed this step

Load paired measurements

Start with 4 pinned x-y pairs.

x-y pairs\text{x-y pairs}
Pinned X-Y PairspointxyA12B23C35D47

Plot x against y

Plot the 4 pairs as dots so x and y are read together.

scatter dots\text{scatter dots}
Pinned x-y dotsxy01234502468A(1, 2)B(2, 3)C(3, 5)D(4, 7)

Read the visible pattern

The visible readout rises from A = (1, 2) to D = (4, 7).

visible pattern\text{visible pattern}
Pinned x-y dotsxy01234502468A(1, 2)low x, low yB(2, 3)C(3, 5)D(4, 7)high x, high y

Keep the claim small

Honesty: these 4 dots are for reading the chart, not proving a relationship.

read chart only\text{read chart only}
Small Scatter Readoutreadoutvaluevisible patterndots rise as x increasesfirst dotA = (1, 2)last dotD = (4, 7)honestychart reading only, not proof