| Noun | 1. | regression analysis - the use of regression to make quantitative predictions of one variable from the values of another statistics - a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters multivariate analysis - a generic term for any statistical technique used to analyze data from more than one variable regression toward the mean, simple regression, statistical regression, regression - the relation between selected values of x and observed values of y (from which the most probable value of y can be predicted for any value of x) regression equation, regression of y on x - the equation representing the relation between selected values of one variable (x) and observed values of the other (y); it permits the prediction of the most probable values of y regression curve, regression line - a smooth curve fitted to the set of paired data in regression analysis; for linear regression the curve is a straight line |