In statistics, linear regression is used for two things;

to construct a simple formula that will predict a value or values for a variable given the value of another variable. to test whether and how a given variable is related to another variable or variables. Linear regression is a form of regression analysis in which the relationship between one or more independent variables and another variable, called the dependent variable, is modelled by a least squares function, called a linear regression equation. This function is a linear combination of one or more model parameters, called regression coefficients. A linear regression equation with one independent variable represents a straight line when the predicted value (i.e. the dependant variable from the regression equation) is plotted against the independent variable: this is called a simple linear regression. However, note that "linear" does not refer to this straight line, but rather to the way in which the regression coefficients occur in the regression equation.