'''Discriminant function analysis''' involvesis thea predictingstatistical ofanalysis to predict a [[categorical variable|categorical]] [[dependent variable|dependent]] [[Variable (mathematics)#Applied statistics|variable]] by one or more [[continuous variable|continuous]] or [[binary]] [[independent variable|independent]] variables. It is statistically the opposite of an [[ANOVA]] or [[MANOVA]], {{Clarify|date=Februarywhich 2010}}is used to predict one (ANOVA) or multiple (MANOVA) continuous dependent variables by one or more indepedent categorical variables. It is useful in determining whether a set of variables is effective in predicting category membership. <br />
It is also a useful follow-up procedure to a MANOVA instead of doing a series of one-way [[Analysis of variance|ANOVA]]sANOVAs, for ascertaining how the groups differ on the composite of dependent variables.
