The authors of a paper presented a correlation analysis to investigate the relationship between maximal lactate level x and muscular endurance y. The accompanying data was read from a plot in the paper. x 400 750 770 800 850 1025 1200
y 3.80 4.00 4.90 5.20 4.00 3.50 6.30

Sxy = 36.9839, Syy= 2628,930.357, Sxy= 7377.704

A scatter plot shows a linear pattern.
a. Test to see whether there is a positive correlation between maximal lactate level and muscular endurance in the population from which this data was selected.
b. If a regression analysis were to be carried out to predict endurance from lactate level, what proportion of observed variation in endurance could be attributed to the approximate linear relationship? Answer the analogous question if regression is used to predict lactate level from endurance—and answer both questions without doing any regression calculations.