Hidden variables
Encyclopedia
Hidden variables may refer to:
- Hidden variable theoriesHidden variable theoryHistorically, in physics, hidden variable theories were espoused by some physicists who argued that quantum mechanics is incomplete. These theories argue against the orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics, which is the Copenhagen Interpretation...
, in physics a class of theories trying to explain away the statistical nature of quantum mechanics - Latent variableLatent variableIn statistics, latent variables , are variables that are not directly observed but are rather inferred from other variables that are observed . Mathematical models that aim to explain observed variables in terms of latent variables are called latent variable models...
s, in statistics, variables that are inferred from other observed variables - Hidden transformationHidden transformationThe hidden transformation reformulates a constraint satisfaction problem in such a way all constraints have at most two variables. The new problem is satisfiable if and only if the original problem was, and solutions can be converted easily from one problem to the other.There are a number of...
, in computer science, a way to transform a generic constraint satisfaction problem into a binary one by introducing new hidden variables - ConfoundingConfoundingIn statistics, a confounding variable is an extraneous variable in a statistical model that correlates with both the dependent variable and the independent variable...
or hidden variables in general. That is, a variable that actually creates the illusion of a causal relation (e.g. firemen often appear after smoke, not because smoke causes firemen, but because fire causes both smoke and firemen)