Fill in the blank: A direct relationship is one for which....?

Question

A direct relationship is one for which....?
a. there is no dependent variable.
b. there is no slope to the curve showing the relationship between variables.
c. the dependent and independent variables change in the opposite direction.
d. the dependent and independent variables change in the same direction.
e. there is no independent variable.

Answer 1

When we say a direc relationship, this means that if one variable increases or decreases, the other also increases or decreases.

i.e. if x and y have a direct relationship this means that,

x = ky + c

k and c are constants.

The opposite of direct relationship is inverse relationship i.e.
if one variable increases or decreases, the other decreases or increases (opposite direction)
eg. x = 1/y

So, your answer is "d"

Answer 2

Ugh. That is a really POORLY posed question. I hope you are the instructor, testing the question here, rather than a student trying to answer it for credit :)

Answer b, and also c and d, indicate that the question refers to two variables only, and not to a multivariable problem. In the case of two variables we can choose one as the independent variable (x) and the other as the dependent variable (y). So that line of reasoning eliminates answers "a" and "e".

I'll pick "d" because "c" describes an inverse relationship and "b" describes the function y=constant where y doesn't depend on x.

Sorry about the waffling but there is really no way to give a clear answer when the question is so unclear.