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.

---

personal equation British  

noun

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

2. the allowance made for such variation

---

Etymology

Origin of personal equation

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

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

From Time Magazine Archive

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

From Time Magazine Archive

The personal equation must always be taken into account in dealing with either; excellent sportsmen of equal experience give conflicting accounts of the performances of the two types.

From Hunting in Many Lands The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club by Various

There is, however, the personal equation to be taken into account.

From Life of Oliver Wendell Holmes by Brown, E. E.

"You under-estimate the personal equation," returned the other.

From A Hero of Li?ge by Strang, Herbert