"baseline" refers to a starting point or a standard that is used as a reference for measurement or comparison. It is often used to establish a foundation or a set level against which changes or progress can be measured. Full definition
To kick this lesson off, we need to establish a sort of baseline of bad trading psychology. (fxdayjob.com)
FAQ: Why do you use the 20th - century average for baseline for the statistics and rankings, but use 1981 - 2010 for the maps? (climate.gov)
So we ran a separate analysis, controlling for these variables, as well as baseline levels of global happiness, depression, personal mastery, and self - esteem. (americanvalues.org)