cardinal variable

English

Noun

cardinal variable (plural cardinal variables)

1. A variable whose values are ordered, that can be multiplied by a scalar, and for which the magnitude of differences in values is meaningful.
   • 1992, Jack Hirshleifer with John G. Riley, The analytics of uncertainty and information, page 14:

     In dealing with certainty choices, standard economic theory treats utility (intensity of preference) as an ordinal rather than a cardinal variable.

   • 2001, Bruno S. Frey with Alois Stutzer, Happiness and economics: how the economy and institutions affect well-being, page 185:

     The least squares estimation treats happiness as a cardinal variable.

   • 2007, Ian Gough with J. Allister McGregor, Wellbeing in developing countries: from theory to research, page 266:

     Life Satisfaction was handled as a cardinal variable, with values between one and seven, where one was assigned to the lowest level of satisfaction

Hyponyms

• interval variable
• ratio variable

Coordinate terms

• nominal variable
• ordinal variable