| 释义 |
correlation|kɒrɪˈleɪʃən|
[f. cor- + relation: cf. F. corrélation, and see correlative.]
1. a. The condition of being correlated; mutual relation of two or more things (implying intimate or necessary connexion).
1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. xvii. §14 If he did set before vs only an empty imaginatiue forme of bred..where were y⊇ correlation or similitude [analogia aut similitudo] which should leade vs from the visible thing to the inuisible. 1658Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii, How in animall natures, even colours hold correspondencies, and mutuall correlations. 1849Murchison Siluria viii. 148 The rocks of Cumberland will be placed in precise correlation with the types of Shropshire and Wales. 1864Bowen Logic iii. 51 The mutual dependence and correlation of these three Axioms.
†b. Relationship (of persons). Obs.
1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. Ad sect. 10 ⁋9 Christian charity is a higher thing than to be confined within the terms of dependence and correlation. 1652Sparke Prim. Devot. (1663) 89 Christ..made choise of brethren, as..Simon..and Andrew..hereby..providing against schisme..both by corporall and spirituall correlation.
c. In Statistics, an interdependence of two or more variable quantities such that a change in the value of one is associated with a change in the value or the expectation of the others; also, the value of this as represented by a correlation coefficient. So correlation coefficient or coefficient of correlation: a number between -1 and 1 calculated so as to represent the linear interdependence of two variables or two sets of data; spec. the product-moment coefficient (see product n.1).
1888F. Galton in Proc. R. Soc. XLV. 143 The statures of kinsmen are co-related variables; thus, the stature of the father is correlated to that of the adult son,..and so on; but the index of co-relation..is different in the different cases. 1896K. Pearson in Ibid. LIX. 302 Let r0 be the coefficient of correlation between parent and offspring. Ibid. 303 We conclude that there is a sensible correlation (circa 0·18) between fertility and height in the mothers of daughters. 1909W. & E. Elderton Primer Statistics 57 In such cases there is no relationship, therefore, between length and breadth, and we say that the ‘coefficient of correlation’ is zero. 1933Forestry VII. 27 It may be stated that a correlation coefficient is a number expressing the degree of correlation between two variates, as, for example, weight and volume, or specific gravity and strength. A correlation coefficient of +1 indicates a direct linear relation, a coefficient of -1 indicates an inverse linear relation, while one of 0·0 indicates absence of relations between the variates. 1943N. Balchin Small Back Room i. 8 There's a positive correlation between penetration and the height of the man firing. 1960F. Land Lang. Maths. xiv. 247 We need to be able to describe this gradation from perfect correlation to no correlation at all, and for this purpose we can calculate a ‘correlation coefficient’. 1964R. von Mises Math. Theory Probability & Statistics xi. 572 Out of 239 patients treated with serum, 9 patients died, and out of 244 left without serum, 29 died. Compute the correlation coefficient between treatment and recovery. 1969Computers & Humanities III. 145 After correlation coefficients are computed for every pair of variables, they are entered in a correlation matrix which summarizes the degree of similarity between pairs of variables.
2. correlation of forces (in Physics): a phrase introduced by Grove to express the mutual relation that exists between the various forms of force or energy, by virtue of which any one form is convertible into an equivalent amount of any other. (Cf. conservation of energy, s.v. conservation 4.)
1843Grove Correlation of Physical Forces 95 The sense I have attached to the word correlation..[is] a reciprocal production; in other words, that any force capable of producing another, may in its turn be produced by it. 1869M. Somerville Molec. Sc. i. ii. 33 Another proof of the correlation of heat and electricity.
3. Biol. Mutual relation of association between different structures, characteristics, etc. in an animal or plant; ‘the normal coincidence of one phenomenon, character, etc., with another’ (Darwin Orig. Species, Gloss.).
1859Darwin Orig. Spec. Introd. i. 9 The complex..laws of variation and of correlation of growth..Some instances of correlation are quite whimsical: thus cats which are entirely white and have blue eyes are invariably [ed. 1878 generally] deaf. 1870Rolleston Anim. Life 105 The correlation of large size of ova with the completion of development before hatching. 188319th Cent. May 763 There is..a mysterious law of correlation of growth between the hair and the teeth.
4. Geom. The reciprocal relation between propositions, figures, etc. derivable from each other by interchanging the words point and plane, or point and line: cf. correlative a. 6.
5. The action of correlating or bringing into mutual relation.
1879Geo. Eliot Theo. Such xi, It is on such false correlations that men found half their inferences about each other. 1886A. J. Jukes-Browne Student's Handbk. Hist. Geol. iv. iii. 27 The correlation and classification of rocks on Palæontological principles. 1963Gloss. Mining Terms (B.S.I.) i. 6 Correlation, the process of orientating underground survey lines or of coordinating underground survey stations to the National Grid. |