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

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 coefficient - when the regression line is linear (y = ax + b) the regression coefficient is the constant (a) that represents the rate of change of one variable (y) as a function of changes in the other (x); it is the slope of the regression line