Patty's Parasols recorded the monthly rainfall and their umbrella sales for an entire year. The following table shows the inches of rainfall and the number of umbrellas the store sold each month. The relationship between the inches of rainfall and umbrella sales can be modeled using a linear function. Month: Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. Jun. Jul. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Rainfall:2.5 3.1 4.0 4.3 3.6 2.4 1.2 0.6 1.5 1.4 1.1 2.6
Umbrella:132 140 162 170 156 103 98 87 84 78 110 125

(a) Using technology, determine the correlation coefficient for the data to the nearest hundredth. Explain the steps you used.

(b) What does the correlation coefficient for the data indicate about the direction and strength of the linear association between the monthly rainfall and the number of umbrellas sold?