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Variable vs Covariate - What's the difference?

variable | covariate |

As nouns the difference between variable and covariate

is that variable is something that is variable while covariate is a variable that is possibly predictive of the outcome under study.

As an adjective variable

is able to vary.

variable

English

(wikipedia variable)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Able to vary.
    • variable''' winds or seasons; a '''variable quantity
  • Likely to vary.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Lest that thy love prove likewise variable .
  • Marked by diversity or difference.
  • (mathematics) Having no fixed quantitative value.
  • (biology) Tending to deviate from a normal or recognized type.

    • Synonyms

    * (able to vary) alterable, flexible, changeable, mutable * (likely to vary) fickle, fluctuating, inconstant, shifting, unstable, unsteady * (marked by diversity or difference) varying * aberrant

    Antonyms

    * (able to vary) constant, invariable, immutable, unalterable, unchangeable * (likely to vary) constant, invariable, immutable, unchangeable * (marked by diversity or difference) unchanging * constant, invariable

    Derived terms

    * variability * variableness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Something that is .
  • Something whose value may be dictated or discovered.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katie L. Burke
    • , title= In the News , volume=101, issue=3, page=193, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.}}
  • (mathematics) A quantity that may assume any one of a set of values.
  • (mathematics) A symbol representing a variable.
  • (programming) A named memory location in which a program can store intermediate results and from which it can read them.
  • (astronomy) A variable star.
  • (nautical) A shifting wind, or one that varies in force.
  • (nautical, in the plural) Those parts of the sea where a steady wind is not expected, especially the parts between the trade-wind belts.

    • Synonyms

    * (something that is variable) changeable * (something whose value may be dictated or discovered) parameter * variable quantity

    Antonyms

    * (something that is variable) constant, invariable

    Hyponyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * bound variable * categorical variable * continuous variable * dependent variable * discrete variable * flow variable * free variable * global variable * independent variable * instance variable * interval variable * local variable * member variable * metasyntactic variable * nominal variable * ordinal variable * ratio variable * stock variable * variable star * variably * vary

    See also

    * argument * variate

    External links

    * * * ----

    covariate

    English

    (wikipedia covariate)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (statistics) A variable that is possibly predictive of the outcome under study.
  • *{{quote-journal, 2009, date=February 6, Christophe Fraser et al., The Bacterial Species Challenge: Making Sense of Genetic and Ecological Diversity, Science citation
    • , passage=On the basis of these analogies, any inference of a population structure driven by selective sweeps would require good longitudinal data from natural bacterial populations, as well as observations of episodic crashes in diversity causally associated with genetic changes and not associated with changes in ecological covariates . }}

    Related terms

    * covary * covariance