AI engineering glossary · Probability
What is correlation coefficient?
Correlation coefficient (also called Pearson correlation): A number between -1 and 1 that measures the strength and direction of a straight-line relationship between two variables, found by dividing their covariance by the product of their standard deviations. It does not show that one causes the other.
Correlation coefficient: an example
Ice cream sales and temperature might have correlation 0.9, meaning they rise together strongly in a near-linear way.
Related terms
More Probability terms
- Correlation vs causation
- Covariance
- Cumulative distribution function
- Dependent events
- Discrete random variable
- Empirical probability
- Empirical rule
- Event
Where you learn it
Correlation coefficient is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.