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

factor analysis - any of several methods for reducing correlational data to a smaller number of dimensions or factors; beginning with a correlation matrix a small number of components or factors are extracted that are regarded as the basic variable that account for the interrelations observed in the data

correlational statistics, correlation - 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