In statistics, a relationship between two variables is negative if the slope in a corresponding graph is negative, or—what is in some contexts equivalent—if the correlation between them is negative. Negative correlation is also variously called anti-correlation or indirect correlation.
Example:
"They observed a negative relationship between illness and vaccination."
As incident of vaccination is increasing, incidence of illness is decreasing, and vice versa.
Compare to a positive relationship: Observed a positive relationship between illness and missed work.
As incidence of illness increased, sick days taken also increased.
Famous quotes containing the words negative and/or relationship:
“Parents need to recognize that the negative behavior accompanying certain stages is just a small part of the total child. It should not become the main focus or be pushed into the limelight.”
—Saf Lerman (20th century)
“Artists have a double relationship towards nature: they are her master and her slave at the same time. They are her slave in so far as they must work with means of this world so as to be understood; her master in so far as they subject these means to their higher goals and make them subservient to them.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)