Variasjon

Variasjon is the concept of difference or diversity among things, events, or values. It denotes deviation from a norm, range, or expectation, and is found in many fields. The term is common in Norwegian, where it translates to variation in English. In statistics, variation describes the dispersion of data points around a central tendency. Key measures include variance and standard deviation, as well as range and interquartile range. Sources of variation can be systematic (between-group) or random (within-group), and are central to analyses such as ANOVA.

In biology, genetic and phenotypic variation refers to differences among individuals in a population. Variation arises from mutations, recombination, gene flow, and environmental effects, and it is the raw material of natural selection and evolution.

In music, variation refers to a formal technique in which a theme is presented and then varied in subsequent editions, maintaining recognizable material while altering melody, harmony, or rhythm.

In linguistics and social sciences, linguistic variation describes differences among speakers, dialects, or sociolects; variationist sociolinguistics studies how social factors influence language use.

Etymology: Variasjon derives from Latin variatio, and in many contexts the Norwegian term is used alongside its English cognate. Variasjon thus encompasses both the generic idea of change and the way that change appears in data, biology, art, and culture.