random variable

noun

Statistics.

1. a quantity that takes any of a set of values with specified probabilities.

random variable

noun

1. rv. statistics a quantity that may take any of a range of values, either continuous or discrete, which cannot be predicted with certainty but only described probabilistically

Word History and Origins

Origin of random variable¹

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

Good institutions are not a random variable that could have popped up anywhere around the globe, in Denmark or in Somalia, with equal probability.

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Like the stock market, timing is a random variable.

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The myriad factors affecting innovativeness make the historian’s task paradoxically easier, by converting societal variation in innovativeness into essentially a random variable.

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