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Data Science & Analytics vocabulary · Statistics for Analysis

Correlation

Meaning in data science & analytics, with examples

/ˌkɔːrəˈleɪʃən/nounCore term

In data science & analytics, correlation means: A relationship between two variables in which they tend to change together, often measured by a coefficient from -1 to 1, where 0 means no linear relationship.

In Turkish: korelasyon, ilişki, bağıntı

How it is used

You find, measure or check for a correlation; it can be positive, negative, strong or weak. Analysts often remind each other that 'correlation is not causation'. The verb is 'correlate with'.

Example sentences

  1. There's a strong correlation between app usage and renewal, but we can't say one causes the other.

  2. The correlation between page speed and bounce rate is negative: faster pages lose fewer visitors.

Common collocations

  • strong correlation
  • positive correlation
  • correlation coefficient
  • correlation between
  • causationA relationship in which a change in one thing directly produces a change in another, rather than the two simply moving together.
  • scatter plotA chart that shows the relationship between two numeric variables by drawing one dot for each observation, with one variable on each axis.
  • variableA characteristic that can take different values from one case to another, such as age, city or price; in a table it is usually one column.
  • regressionA family of methods that model how a numeric outcome, such as sales or price, depends on one or more input variables, used to estimate effects or make predictions.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Statistics for Analysis

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