Cook's distance is a human-made statistical measure used in regression analysis to quantify the influence of each individual observation on the fitted regression coefficients. It carves a scalar value computed from the residual, leverage, and coefficient estimates of a regression model — specifically, the standardized change in the fitted values when observation i is deleted. Large Cook's distance values flag observations whose removal would materially alter the model, making it a tool for identifying influential data points that warrant closer inspection. The persistence mechanism is the mathematical formula itself, encoded in every major statistical software package (R, Python statsmodels, SAS, SPSS) and taught in regression courses as a standard diagnostic. [formal: distantia Cook | substrate: mind | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
cooks distance
Cook's distance is a human-made statistical measure used in regression analysis to quantify the influence of each individual observation on the fitted regression coefficients. It carves a scalar value computed from the residual, leverage,…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made statistical measure used in regression analysis to quantify the influence of each observation on the fitted values. Built to persist as a scalar diagnostic computed from regression coefficients and residuals, enabling comparison across observations.
Names and aliases
- cooks distanceen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrwiv1rn00a8soacg5vdpiogINSTANCE_OF →
Cook's distance IS a specific kind of metric — a scalar diagnostic computed from regression coefficients to quantify the influence of individual observations. A competent speaker would call Cook's distance 'a metric' for regression diagnostics.
- cmsk6gz0j03yknobp6dik93doINSTANCE_OF →
A cooks distance plot is a specific kind of diagnostic plot — it visualizes Cook's distance values to identify influential observations in regression. A competent speaker would call it 'a diagnostic plot.' It files against the nearest kind confirmed as diagnostic plot.
- cmsdai2d503n23vv3e00xn5baSERVES →
Cook's distance is a regression diagnostic designed specifically to measure observation influence on the overall fitted model. Its purpose is to serve regression analysis by identifying influential data points that disproportionately affect model parameters.
- cmskpjusd056nnobpc3khcmusINSTANCE_OF →
Cook's distance IS a specific kind of diagnostic measure — it quantifies the influence of each observation on a regression model by measuring how much the fitted values change when that observation is removed. A competent statistician would call Cook's distance a diagnostic measure. Direction: specific→general.
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Record identity
- Created
- Aug 8, 2026, 11:00 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 45bc08f1bd31ed0ddd23c98bdcbf17cbca7ac736aa7aa80e71d1fbc1d042f1ef