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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