{"id":14639,"date":"2016-09-14T15:58:36","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T15:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/linear-regression\/"},"modified":"2018-07-09T17:13:54","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T17:13:54","slug":"linear-regression","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/32060\/linear-regression","title":{"rendered":"Linear Regression"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_linear_regression_mean\">What Does Linear Regression Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Linear regression is a kind of statistical analysis that attempts to show a relationship between two variables. Linear regression looks at various data points and plots a trend line. Linear regression can create a predictive model on apparently random data, showing trends in data, such as in cancer diagnoses or in stock prices.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_linear_regression\">Techopedia Explains Linear Regression<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Linear regression is an important tool in analytics. The technique uses statistical calculations to plot a trend line in a set of data points. The trend line could be anything from the number of people diagnosed with skin cancer to the financial performance of a company. Linear regression shows a relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable being studied.<\/p>\n<p>There are a number of ways to calculate linear regression. One of the most common is the ordinary least-squares method, which estimates unknown variables in the data, which visually turns into the sum of the vertical distances between the data points and the trend line.<\/p>\n<p>The calculations to perform linear regressions can be quite complex. Fortunately, linear regression models are included in most major calculations packages, such as Excel, R, MATLAB and Mathematica.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Linear Regression Mean? Linear regression is a kind of statistical analysis that attempts to show a relationship between two variables. Linear regression looks at various data points and plots a trend line. Linear regression can create a predictive model on apparently random data, showing trends in data, such as in cancer diagnoses or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[251,256,262],"class_list":["post-14639","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-analytics","definitioncat-emerging-technology","definitioncat-identity-access-governance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Linear Regression? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Linear Regression and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Linear Regression\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Linear Regression and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/32060\/linear-regression\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-09T17:13:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/32060\/linear-regression#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/32060\/linear-regression\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Linear Regression\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-14T15:58:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-09T17:13:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/32060\/linear-regression\"},\"wordCount\":198,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/32060\/linear-regression#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/32060\/linear-regression\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/32060\/linear-regression\",\"name\":\"What is Linear Regression? 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