Coefficient of determination

The better the linear regression \(f\) fits the data in comparison to the average \(\bar{y}\), the closer \(R^2\) is to 1.
Squared residuals with respect to \(\bar{y}\) Squared residuals with respect to \(f\)
\(\color{red}{SS_\text{tot}}=\sum_i (y_i - \color{darkgreen}{\bar{y}})^2\) \(\color{blue}{SS_\text{res}}=\sum_i (y_i - \color{darkorange}{f_i})^2\)