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The term e i is known as the "error" and contains the variability of the dependent variable not explained by the independent variable. [citation needed] With multiple independent variables, the model is y i = a + bx i,1 + bx i,2 + ... + bx i,n + e i, where n is the number of independent variables. [citation needed]
A variable may denote an unknown number that has to be determined; in which case, it is called an unknown; for example, in the quadratic equation ax 2 + bx + c = 0, the variables a, b, c are parameters, and x is the unknown. Sometimes the same symbol can be used to denote both a variable and a constant, that is a well defined mathematical object.
A variable of this type is called a dummy variable. If the dependent variable is a dummy variable, then logistic regression or probit regression is commonly employed. In the case of regression analysis, a dummy variable can be used to represent subgroups of the sample in a study (e.g. the value 0 corresponding to a constituent of the control ...
Random variables are usually written in upper case Roman letters, such as or and so on. Random variables, in this context, usually refer to something in words, such as "the height of a subject" for a continuous variable, or "the number of cars in the school car park" for a discrete variable, or "the colour of the next bicycle" for a categorical variable.
A domain is a set of all possible values that a variable is allowed to have. The values are ordered in a logical way and must be defined for each variable. Domains can be bigger or smaller. The smallest possible domains have those variables that can only have two values, also called binary (or dichotomous) variables.
The image of a function f(x 1, x 2, …, x n) is the set of all values of f when the n-tuple (x 1, x 2, …, x n) runs in the whole domain of f.For a continuous (see below for a definition) real-valued function which has a connected domain, the image is either an interval or a single value.
The term Variable is relevant to several contexts, and is especially important to mathematics and computer science. Scientists and engineers will often use mathematical variables in formulae and equations, such as E = mc 2; they will also have their own special uses of the term. The term Variable can also occur in other contexts, such as ...
The probability distribution of the sum of two or more independent random variables is the convolution of their individual distributions. The term is motivated by the fact that the probability mass function or probability density function of a sum of independent random variables is the convolution of their corresponding probability mass functions or probability density functions respectively.