The correlation coefficient, denoted by r, tells us how closely data in a scatterplot fall along a straight line. The closer that the absolute value of r is to one, the better that the data are described by a linear equation. If r =1 or r = -1 then the data set is perfectly aligned. Data sets with values of r close to zero show little to no straight-line relationship.
Due to the lengthy calculations, it is best to calculate r with the use of a calculator or statistical software. However, it is always a worthwhile endeavor to know what your calculator is doing when it is calculating. What follows is a process for calculating the correlation coefficient mainly by hand, with a calculator used for the routine arithmetic steps.