Recently, whilst I was sitting in my statistics class, my professor brought up a website that he thought was “kind of interesting.” Usually, when a math professor says something is interesting, I’m the type of person to zone out and wait until we’re taking notes again. This time, however, was different. My professor pulled up the website “Spurious Correlations,” a website created by Harvard grad student Tyler Vigen, dedicated to finding bizarre, strongly correlated variables that are pretty much entirely unrelated outside of the statistical world. After going through the website with friends for a good hour, I bring you the 5 best of the most bizarre correlations from Vigen’s site.
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The two are: Positively Correlated so… More Nick Cage=More Pool Drownings
Stay away from pools when National Treasure 3 gets announced.
2. 
The two are: Positively Correlated so… More Margarine=More Divorce
Just another reason why butter is evil dressed in golden goodness.
3. 
The two are: Positively Correlated so… More Letters=More Spider Deaths
If it gets above ten letters, hire an exterminator.
4. 
The two are: Negatively Correlated so… More Bee Colonies=Fewer Juvenile Arrests for Marijuana
I hear the bee colonies in Colorado have been thriving lately.
5. 
The two are: Positively Correlated so… More Cheese=More Doctorates
Finally an excuse for all the pizza you eat during finals week.
So… clearly while the numbers are all factual the connections are hardly existent, but if you want to see all 30,000 of these correlations, check out Vigen’s new book!
