Hurricanes develop low pressure at their centers. A sample of 163 hurricanes (with central pressure ranging from 910 to 1000 mb) was studied to investigate the relationship between central pressure (mb) and maximum wind speed (knots). The data was analyzed to produce the results below: Regression equation: Max wind speed = 955.27 - 0.897 Central Pressure R-squared = 77.24%

1. What is the correlation between the central pressure and maximum wind speed? Use this value to assess the strength of the linear association.

2. Identify and interpret the slope for the above equation.