Noun: correlation ,kor-u'ley-shun or ,kó-ru'ley-shun [N. Amer], ,kó-ru'ley-shun [Brit]
- A statistical relation between two or more variables such that systematic changes in the value of one variable are accompanied by systematic changes in the other
"The study used correlation to examine the link between exercise and mental health";
- correlational statistics
- (statistics) a statistic representing how closely two variables co-vary; it can vary from -1 (perfect negative correlation) through 0 (no correlation) to +1 (perfect positive correlation)
"what is the correlation between those two variables?";
- correlation coefficient, coefficient of correlation
Derived forms: correlations
Type of: parametric statistic, statistics, stats [informal]
Part of: correlational analysis
Encyclopedia: Correlation, not causation