Word
variational
Phoneticsvari·a·tion·al
Definition
adj. relating to mathematical methods that find best solutions by testing small changes to functions.
adj. relating to the calculus of variations, specifically optimization techniques that approximate intractable probability distributions by minimizing divergence from a tractable family.
Examples
“The physics student used a variational method to estimate the energy of the quantum system.”
“Variational autoencoders learn compact representations by compressing images into probabilistic latent codes.”
“In Bayesian deep learning, variational inference transforms an intractable posterior integration problem into a tractable continuous optimization task.”
Examples
simple
“The physics student used a variational method to estimate the energy of the quantum system.”
contextual
“Variational autoencoders learn compact representations by compressing images into probabilistic latent codes.”
complex
“In Bayesian deep learning, variational inference transforms an intractable posterior integration problem into a tractable continuous optimization task.”
Etymology
From Latin variatio ('a change, alteration'), from variare ('to change'). The calculus of variations was developed in the 18th century by Euler and Lagrange.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.