Latent and observable variables: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:36, 18 January 2024

Revision as of 18:11, 19 January 2024

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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]], [[bioinformatics]], [[chemometrics]], [[natural language processing]], [[management]], [[psychology]] and the [[social sciences]].

{{quote|''But the latent process of which we speak, is far from being obvious to men’s minds, beset as they now are. For we mean not the measures, symptoms, or degrees of any process which can be exhibited in the bodies themselves, but simply a continued process, which, for the most part, escapes the observation of the senses.|''Sir [[Francis Bacon]]'', [[Novum Organum]]<ref>{{cite book|author-last=Bacon|author-first=Francis|title=Novum Organum|chapter=APHORISMS—BOOK II: ON THE INTERPRETATION OF NATURE, OR THE REIGN OF MAN|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45988/45988-h/45988-h.htm}}</ref>

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