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autocorrelation

American  
[aw-toh-kawr-uh-ley-shuhn, -kor-] / ˌɔ toʊˌkɔr əˈleɪ ʃən, -ˌkɒr- /

noun

Statistics.
  1. the correlation of an ordered series of observations with the same series displaced by the same number of terms.


autocorrelation British  
/ ˌɔːtəʊˌkɒrɪˈleɪʃən /

noun

  1. Also called: serial correlation.  the condition occurring when successive items in a series are correlated so that their covariance is not zero and they are not independent

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of autocorrelation

First recorded in 1945–50; auto- 1 + correlation

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"Researching and better understanding them is important if we want to be able to predict possible future climate tipping points caused by humans. While the slowdown seen in the first type of tipping point leads to a decrease in variability, autocorrelation, and skewness, the flickering in the second type leads to the exact opposite -- and, in some cases, to the impending tipping point not being recognized."

From Science Daily

Hub, J. S., De Groot, B. L. & van der Spoel, D. g_wham—a free weighted histogram analysis implementation including robust error and autocorrelation estimates.

From Nature

Pandit, R. & Laband, D. N. Spatial autocorrelation in country-level models of species imperilment.

From Nature

The residuals for the north, northeast, centre-west and southeast regions show no autocorrelation, whereas a small amount of autocorrelation cannot be excluded for the south region.

From Nature

The residuals for the north, northeast, centre-west and southeast regions show no autocorrelation, whereas a small amount of autocorrelation cannot be excluded for the south region.

From Nature