The Collaborative International Dictionary
Independent \In`de*pend"ent\, a. [Pref. in- not + dependent: cf. F. ind['e]pendant.]
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Not dependent; free; not subject to control by others; not relying on others; not subordinate; as, few men are wholly independent.
A dry, but independent crust.
--Cowper. Affording a comfortable livelihood; as, an independent property.
Not subject to bias or influence; not obsequious; self-directing; as, a man of an independent mind.
Expressing or indicating the feeling of independence; free; easy; bold; unconstrained; as, an independent air or manner.
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Separate from; exclusive; irrespective.
That obligation in general, under which we conceive ourselves bound to obey a law, independent of those resources which the law provides for its own enforcement.
--R. P. Ward. (Eccl.) Belonging or pertaining to, or holding to the doctrines or methods of, the Independents.
(Math.) Not dependent upon another quantity in respect to value or rate of variation; -- said of quantities or functions.
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(U. S. Politics) Not bound by party; exercising a free choice in voting with either or any party.
Independent company (Mil.), one not incorporated in any regiment.
Independent seconds watch, a stop watch having a second hand driven by a separate set of wheels, springs, etc., for timing to a fraction of a second.
Independent variable. (Math.) See Dependent variable, under Dependent.
Syn: Free; uncontrolled; separate; uncoerced; self-reliant; bold; unconstrained; unrestricted.
Variable \Va"ri*a*ble\, n.
That which is variable; that which varies, or is subject to change.
(Math.) A quantity which may increase or decrease; a quantity which admits of an infinite number of values in the same expression; a variable quantity; as, in the equation x^ 2 - y^ 2 = R^ 2, x and y are variables.
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(Naut.)
A shifting wind, or one that varies in force.
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pl. Those parts of the sea where a steady wind is not expected, especially the parts between the trade-wind belts.
Independent variable (Math.), that one of two or more variables, connected with each other in any way whatever, to which changes are supposed to be given at will. Thus, in the equation x^ 2 - y^ 2 = R^ 2, if arbitrary changes are supposed to be given to x, then x is the independent variable, and y is called a function of x. There may be two or more independent variables in an equation or problem. Cf. Dependent variable, under Dependent.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context algebra English) In an equation, any variable whose value is not dependent on any other in the equation. 2 (context science English) The variable that is changed or manipulated in a series of experiments.
WordNet
n. (statistics) a variable whose values are independent of changes in the values of other variables [syn: experimental variable]
Usage examples of "independent variable".
The code is probably based on an equation whose independent variable is time and whose dependent variable is the code number.
They act as an independent variable-function generator, calibrating a continuous input of data and changing operations to suit current conditions even during the processor's calculation of a problem solution.
With this discovery Kunll S Suag gave to man what man should have known thousands of years before The error in all the Poly-mathematical Theory has been housed m the assumption that time is an independent variable The old, honored Theory of Relativity, as well as Heisenberg's indeterminacy principle was laid to rest with this one moment of clarity The concept that velocity in curvilinear motion is a function of an independent time variable was the error Light and time were not separable On the contrary there was a dependency on the variations of each quantity They are dependent jointly distributed hypervanables, to be treated with a new discrete space multidirecteti filternet limit In such a model no longer does viewing alter .
And then you have to divide out the independent variable, or you will just get zero the next time.
If that radius shifted as an independent variable, the rotation changed in response, describing a nonlinear function.