# Does the stepwisefit function in MATLAB handle correlation between the factors?

I have been told to run a factor analysis using the stepwisefit function in MATLAB.

Basically, this function helps you fit a model composed of $T$ factors $F=(f_1, ... , f_T)$ each of which have $N$ values with a target vector $y$ with the same length.

I know for a fact that my factors are correlated, and I was wondering if this function was assuming that the factors are uncorrelated or not...

Should I still use this function or, if it's not the case, which function/method should I choose to perform my analysis?

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Strange. I don't see any reference to factor analysis under the link. It reads that stepwisefit is stepwise regression analysis –  ttnphns Jul 14 '12 at 14:30
Maybe my wording is wrong, I understand factor analysis as a multiple regression over different factors. –  SRKX Jul 14 '12 at 14:31
I can't know what you might intend. You can see definition of "factor analysis" by pointing on the tag (or read in Wikipedia). Does its meaning fit your case? –  ttnphns Jul 14 '12 at 14:35
Yes, it absolutely does. Basically, I have a lot of underlying factors and I would like to know which of them are really meaningful. I would then like to find the right weight to the remaining factors to find my optimal fit. –  SRKX Jul 14 '12 at 14:41
@SRKX, why don't you simply drop the correlated factors from further analysis? It is easy to do. Moreover, stepwisefit will do this for you. –  Paul Jul 14 '12 at 15:54