Muuttuvia

Muuttuvia is the partitive plural form of the Finnish adjective muuttuva, meaning changing or variable. It describes things that are not fixed and can change over time or under different conditions.

In grammar, muuttuva is an attributive adjective, and its partitive plural form muuttuvia is used with plural nouns in the partitive case, often in expressions that describe ongoing or indeterminate processes. Examples include 'muuttuvia tekijöitä' (changing factors), 'muuttuvia arvoja' (changing values) and 'muuttuvia oloja' (changing conditions).

In science and everyday language, the term is commonly used to refer to phenomena or quantities that may vary. The phrase 'muuttuvia suureita' is often found in discussions about dynamic systems, measurements, or models. It is important to note that the Finnish mathematical term for a deliberate variable is 'muuttuja' (plural 'muuttujat'); 'muuttuvia' emphasizes the aspect of change rather than the role of a variable in a formal equation.

Etymologically, muuttuvia derives from the verb muuttua 'to change' plus the adjectival suffix -va, signalling a property of being capable of change. The word is widely used across disciplines, from mathematics and physics to sociology and everyday speech, to indicate elements that are not constant.

See also: muuttuja (variable), muuttujaan liittyvät suureet (variables and related quantities).