The acf, or autocorrelation function, is a statistical tool used to measure the correlation of a time series with its own past values. It helps identify patterns in the data, indicating how current values are related to previous ones over various lags. This function plays a crucial role in understanding time series behavior, making it essential for model identification and estimation, particularly in autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models and seasonal variations.
congrats on reading the definition of acf. now let's actually learn it.