stochastically

English

WOTD – 24 February 2018

Etymology

Viewed with a microscope, fluorescent latex spheres with a diameter of 20 nanometres exhibit Brownian motion, which is a stochastic process

stochastic +‎ -ally.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stəˈkæstɪkli/, /stəˈkæstɪkəli/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sto‧chas‧tic‧al‧ly

Adverb

stochastically (comparative more stochastically, superlative most stochastically)

1. In a stochastic manner; by means of a process involving a randomly determined sequence of events.
   • 1838, Ralph Cudworth, edited by John Allen, A Treatise of Freewill, [...] Now First Edited, from the Original MS., and with Notes, London: John W[illiam] Parker, West Strand, →OCLC, pages 39–40:

     That is when we have no clear and distinct conception of the truth of a proposition (which is the knowledge of it and can never be false) we may notwithstanding, extend our assents further and judge stochastically, that is opine, this way or that way concerning it, and that sometimes with a great deal of confidence and assurance too.

   • 1954, Gordon W[illard] Allport, “Selective Quantitative Techniques”, in Gardner Lindzey, editor, Handbook of Social Psychology, volumes 1 (Theory and Method), Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, →OCLC, page 317, column 2:

     In the table the scores from group A are stochastically smaller than those for B, C, or D because group A always has at least as many scores at or below a particular number as any of the other groups. Similarly, the scores from group B are stochastically smaller than those from group C.

   • 1973 October, J[ames] C[lement] I. Dooge, “Lecture 1. Hydrologic Systems.”, in Linear Theory of Hydrologic Systems (Technical Bulletin; no. 1468), Washington, D.C.: Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 8:

     In still other cases, the state of the system is stochastically determined or else assumed to be stochastically determined, that is, determined by a random factor.

Translations

in a stochastic manner

• Finnish: stokastisesti
• Galician: estocasticamente
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: στοχαστικά (el) (stochastiká)
• Italian: stocasticamente (it)

Further reading

• stochastic on Wikipedia.Wikipedia