nonsense correlation
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nonsense correlation
[′nän‚sens ‚kär·ə‚lā·shən] (statistics)
A correlation between two variables that is not due to any causal relationship, but to the fact that each variable is correlated with a third variable, or to random sampling fluctuations. Also known as illusory correlation.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
References in periodicals archive
(1926) Why Do We Sometimes Get
Nonsense Correlations Between Time Series?--A Study in Sampling and the Nature of Time Series.
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