Decision Analytics: Microsoft® Excel®

5. Discriminant Function Analysis: The Basics

In This Chapter

Treating a Category as a Number

The Rationale for Discriminant Analysis

Discriminant Analysis and Multiple Regression

The Discriminant Function and the Regression Equation

Wrapping It Up

A traditional analysis of variance, or ANOVA, helps you decide whether different groups have different average values on some continuous variable. The groups are usually defined in terms of some category. For example:

Which political party gives a higher favorability rating to a particular legislative proposal? The party is the category, and the rating is the continuous variable.

Do people who eat ...