Regression techniques assume a numerical response variable. The goal is to find a function that fits the data with the least error. For example, we could select age as response variable for the data set in Table 3.1 and (hypothetically) find the func
tion age = 124 − 0.8 × weight, e.g., a person of 50 kilogram is expected to live
until the age of 84 whereas a person of 100 kilogram is expected to live until the
age of 44. For the second data set, we could find that the mark for the course on workflow systems heavily depends on the mark for linear algebra and logic, e.g.,
workflow systems = 0.6 + 0.8 × linear algebra + 0.2 × logic. For the third data set,
we could (again hypothetically) find a function that predicts the number of bagels
in terms of the numbers of different drinks.