All other things being equal, ceteris paribus

[paulrevenkojones at aol.com]

Cēterīs paribus is a Latin
phrase, literally translated as "with other things the same." It is
commonly rendered in English as "all other things being equal." A
prediction, or a statement about causal or logical connections between two states of affairs, is qualified by ceteris paribus in order to acknowledge, and to rule out, the possibility of other factors which could override the relationship between the antecedent and the consequent.[1]


A ceteris paribus assumption is often fundamental to the predictive
purpose of scientific inquiry. In order to formulate scientific laws,
it is usually necessary to rule out factors which interfere with
examining a specific causal relationship. Experimentally, the ceteris paribus assumption is realized when a scientist controls for all of the independent variables other than the one under study, so that the effect of a single independent variable on the dependent variable
can be isolated. By holding all the other relevant factors constant, a
scientist is able to focus on the unique effects of a given factor in a
complex causal situation.


Such assumptions are also relevant to the descriptive purpose of modeling a theory. In such circumstances, analysts such as physicists, economists, and behavioral psychologists
apply simplifying assumptions in order to devise or explain an
analytical framework that does not necessarily prove cause and effect
but is still useful for describing fundamental concepts within a realm
of inquiry.





Wikipedia




 

-----Original Message-----
From: Noah Haverkamp <noahhaverkamp at yahoo.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 6:09 pm
Subject: All other things being equal













I always thought this phrase meant exactly what it says. That is, all things whatever except for the thing that is about to be pointed out. So, in this case: equal sound, equal length of life, equal color, equal thickness, equal size, equal weight, equal value, etc. 







 

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