Data analysis is the act of transforming data with the aim of extracting useful information and facilitating conclusions.
Depending on the type of data and the question, this might include
- application of statistical methods,
- curve fitting,
- selecting or discarding certain subsets based on specific criteria, or
- other techniques.
In contrast to Data mining, data analysis is usually more narrowly intended as not aiming to the discovery of unforeseen patterns hidden in the data, but to the verification or disproval of an existing model,
or to the extraction of parameters necessary to adapt a theoretical model to (experimental) reality.
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