A study finds a strong positive correlation between the number of ice creams sold and the number of shark attacks in a coastal town.
Which of the following is the most sensible conclusion?

This is a classic example of "correlation does not imply causation". A strong positive correlation means that as one variable increases, the other also tends to increase. In this case, as ice cream sales go up, so do shark attacks. However, it is illogical to think that one causes the other. Instead, there is likely a third, confounding variable that influences both. In this scenario, the confounding variable is **hot weather**. - Hot weather causes more people to buy ice cream. - Hot weather also causes more people to go swimming in the sea, which increases the chance of a shark encounter. Therefore, the two variables are correlated, but there is no direct causal link between them. The correlation is caused by an external factor.