Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or characterized by conjecture; conjectural.
  • adjective Statistics Involving or containing a random variable or process.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Conjectural; given to or partaking of conjecture.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Conjectural; able to conjecture.
  • adjective random; chance; involving probability; opposite of deterministic.
  • adjective (Statistics) of or pertaining to a process in which a series of calculations, selections, or observations are made, each one being randomly determined as a sample from a probability distribution.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Random, randomly determined, relating to stochastics.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective being or having a random variable

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek stokhastikos, from stokhastēs, diviner, from stokhazesthai, to guess at, from stokhos, aim, goal; see stegh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek στοχαστικός (stokhastikos), from στοχάζομαι (stokhazomai, "aim at a target, guess"), from στόχος (stokhos, "an aim, a guess").

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Examples

  • The experimental technique has entered the annals of science under the name of "stochastic cooling."

    Simon van der Meer, Nobel laureate in physics, dies at 85 2011

  • The irregular trend in integrated series is known as a stochastic trend as opposed to a simple linear deterministic time trend.

    Energy quality 2008

  • Pearle's approach requires the precise formulation of the idea of stochastic Lorentz invariance.

    Collapse Theories Ghirardi, Giancarlo 2007

  • Alexander develops the notion of stochastic technê further in his commentary on Aristotle's Topics.

    Episteme and Techne Parry, Richard 2007

  • He calls stochastic, then, the sorts of technê whose task is to try everything possible to achieve their goal, the realization of the goal being subject to chance.

    Episteme and Techne Parry, Richard 2007

  • It seems farfetched, but it's based on a physical principle called stochastic resonance.

    Steady There, Old Man 2007

  • This is analogous to a paradoxical physical phenomenon known as stochastic resonance, in which an increase in noise enhances the detection of weak signals.

    ENTANGLED MINDS DEAN RADIN 2006

  • This is analogous to a paradoxical physical phenomenon known as stochastic resonance, in which an increase in noise enhances the detection of weak signals.

    ENTANGLED MINDS DEAN RADIN 2006

  • This is analogous to a paradoxical physical phenomenon known as stochastic resonance, in which an increase in noise enhances the detection of weak signals.

    ENTANGLED MINDS DEAN RADIN 2006

  • However, it was shown that the correction of the fluctuation of the average position of a great many particles was sufficient to produce a cooling effect, hence the name stochastic cooling.

    Accelerators and Nobel Laureates 2001

Comments

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  • Funny, this came up when I was 'randoming.'

    October 21, 2009

  • work encompassed by the "stochastic arts"--those that "diagnose and fix things that are variable, complex, and not of our own making." He includes in this category mechanics and medical practitioners and those with other occupations which, because of the constant risk of failure, at least potentially prevent self-absorption, and instead "cultivate not creativity, but the less glamorous virtue of attentiveness"

    May 19, 2010