A statistic that characterizes two or more sets of numbers and, when squared and multiplied by 100, gives the percentage strength of the (linear) relationship between the two sets of numbers. For example, if the coefficient of correlation between measures of the height and weight of a group of people were 0.9, then one would deduce that knowing the height of someone (loosely speaking) would explain (or account for) 81 percent of the weight.
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