The covariance of X and Y is the expected value of the product of two random variables, X − E(X) and Y − E(Y). […] If two random variables tend to act like opposites, one is high when the other is low and vice versa, then the covariance will be negative. If two random variables tend to be high and low at the same time, then the covariance will be positive. In fact, the covariance measures the extent of a linear relationship between the two random variables.

He's the new kid on the block and doesn't know the way we do things around here yet. Cut him some slack and let him learn from this.

. . . although a little apt to get buried under a cartload of written pleadings, . . .

In his diabolical joke-typist persona, Perec murdered the English language, but his aggression was directed as much towards the unfunny ghastliness of scientific pseudo-English as towards the language itself, which he knew well and could bend quite effectively to his own humour.