Lähendatava

Lähendatava is an Estonian term used in technical and academic writing to describe something that can be approximated. It derives from the verb lähendama, meaning to bring closer or to approximate, and the participial adjective lähendatav, meaning approximable. The form lähendatava is used in attributive phrases to indicate that the noun it modifies is subject to approximation, for example in expressions like lähendatava väärtus (an approximate value) or lähendatava mudeli konstruktsioon (the construction of an approximate model).

In practice, the concept appears mainly in fields that deal with estimation, modeling, and computation. Lähendatava objects or quantities are treated with methods that aim to reduce error or bring results within a specified tolerance. This includes numerical methods, statistical estimation, and algorithmic approximations, where the goal is to balance accuracy with resources such as time and memory. The term helps distinguish between exact quantities or models and those intended to be approximate representations of reality or data.

Linguistically, lähendatav forms part of the broader Estonian system of participial adjectives formed with the suffix -atav, which denotes capability or susceptibility. Grammatical agreement follows standard Estonian rules, and lähendatava can appear in different cases to fit syntactic roles within sentences.

See also: lähendamine (the act of approximation), lähendatavus (the property of being approximable), numerical approximation.