variating

Variating is the act of varying or changing certain attributes, configurations, or values. It is the present participle of the verb variate, and it is used primarily in formal or technical contexts. Because variate is less common in everyday language, variating often appears in discussions of data, experiments, or modeling in which a parameter or dataset is deliberately altered.

In statistics and probability, a variate refers to a random variable drawn from a specified distribution. The term variating is sometimes used to describe the process of generating or sampling random variates, for example variating from a normal distribution. This sense is common in simulation and numerical methods such as Monte Carlo techniques, where repeated variating helps assess variability or uncertainty. The noun variate contrasts with variation, the broader concept of differences among values or distributions.

In other disciplines, variating can denote actively altering features in an experimental or design context. Researchers may variate factors to study causal effects, or in computer graphics, variating parameters to produce diverse outputs. In biology and evolution, the study of variation is more typical, and variating as a verb is comparatively rare.

The term variating is relatively uncommon in everyday language and can often be replaced by vary or variation depending on context. Related terms include variate, variation, random variate, Monte Carlo, and variationist.