method - a way of doing something, especially a systematic way; implies an orderly logical arrangement (usually in steps)

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

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

least squares, method of least squares - a method of fitting a curve to data points so as to minimize the sum of the squares of the distances of the points from the curve

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)