Variational may refer to: *

Calculus of variations The calculus of variations (or Variational Calculus) is a field of mathematical analysis that uses variations, which are small changes in functions and functionals, to find maxima and minima of functionals: mappings from a set of functions t ...

, a field of mathematical analysis that deals with maximizing or minimizing functionals *

Variational method (quantum mechanics) In quantum mechanics, the variational method is one way of finding approximations to the lowest energy eigenstate or ground state, and some excited states. This allows calculating approximate wavefunctions such as molecular orbitals. The basis for ...

, a way of finding approximations to the lowest energy eigenstate or ground state in quantum physics *

Variational Bayesian methods Variational Bayesian methods are a family of techniques for approximating intractable integrals arising in Bayesian inference and machine learning. They are typically used in complex statistical models consisting of observed variables (usually ...

, a family of techniques for approximating integrals in Bayesian inference and machine learning *

Variational properties In evolutionary biology, the variational properties of an organism are those properties relating to the production of variation among its offspring. In a broader sense variational properties include phenotypic plasticity. Wagner, G. P. and Altenbe ...

, properties of an organism relating to the production of variation among its offspring in evolutionary biology *

Variationist sociolinguistics Variation is a characteristic of language: there is more than one way of saying the same thing. Speakers may vary pronunciation ( accent), word choice (lexicon), or morphology and syntax (sometimes called "grammar"). But while the diversity of va ...

or variational sociolinguistics, the study of variation in language use among speakers or groups of speakers

See also