personal equation

American  

noun

1. the tendency to personal bias that accounts for variation in interpretation or approach and for which allowance must be made.

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personal equation British  

noun

1. the variation or error in observation or judgment caused by individual characteristics

2. the allowance made for such variation

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Etymology

Origin of personal equation

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

Relations between the U.S. and Europe are complicated by the personal equation.

From Time Magazine Archive

There are experimentalists, like Picasso, and those who, like Braque, discover their personal equation and go on repeating it.

From Time Magazine Archive

But I fear me greatly that this is idle; it is but the setting up of one personal equation over against another.

From Americanisms and Briticisms with other essays on other isms by Matthews, Brander

Just as in scientific observation there is a personal equation, so in the conduct of life there is a personal limitation.

From The Eulogy of Richard Jefferies by Besant, Walter, Sir

Her husband had the wisdom to recognise that; although his own happiness was at stake, the matter was beyond the restricted sphere of the personal equation.

From Mrs. Fitz by Snaith, J. C.