Latent and observable variables: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:00, 26 January 2024

Revision as of 21:18, 8 July 2024

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{{Short description|Variable not directly observed}}

{{For|similar uses|Hidden variable (disambiguation){{!}}Hidden variable}}

In [[statistics]], '''latent variables''' (from [[Latin]]: [[present participle]] of ''lateo'', “lie hidden”) are [[Variable (mathematics)|variables]] that can only be [[Statistical inference|inferred]] indirectly through a [[mathematical model]] from other '''observable variables''' that can be directly [[observation|observed]] or [[measurement|measured]].<ref>Dodge, Y. (2003) ''The Oxford Dictionary of Statistical Terms'', OUP. {{isbn|0-19-920613-9}}</ref> Such ''[[latent variable model]]s'' are used in many disciplines, including [[political science]], [[demography]], [[engineering]], [[medicine]], [[ecology]], [[physics]], [[machine learning]]/[[artificial intelligence]], [[natural language processing]], [[bioinformatics]], [[chemometrics]], [[naturaldemography]], language processing[[economics]], [[management]], [[political science]], [[psychology]] and the [[social sciences]].

Latent variables may correspond to aspects of physical reality. These could in principle be measured, but may not be for practical reasons. Among the earliest expressions of this idea is Sir [[Francis Bacon]]'s classic [[polemic]] the ''[[Novum Organum]]'', itself a challenge to the more traditional logic expressed in [[Aristotle]]'s [[Organon]].