Latent and observable variables: Difference between revisions

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

In [[statistics]], '''latent variables''' (from [[Latin]]: [[present participle]] of ''lateo'', “lie hidden”<ref>{{cite web | url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/latent {{Bare URL inline|date title=AugustLatent 2024}}</ref>) 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 [[engineering]], [[medicine]], [[ecology]], [[physics]], [[machine learning]]/[[artificial intelligence]], [[natural language processing]], [[bioinformatics]], [[chemometrics]], [[demography]], [[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]].