Discrimination

Combining aspects of MANOVA and multiple linear regression (MLR), linear discriminant analyses may be used to identify how well a data set supports an a priori grouping of objects and how much each variable contributes to this separation. The pages in this section describe linear methods of discrimination between one or more groups.

Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) can be used to evaluate how well the data supports the division of objects into two groups.

Multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) can be used when objects are separated into more than two groups.