To distinguish the word “arbitrary” from “random”, I think of an arbitratorâi.e., an outside judge chooses something. (Maybe this results in a uniform prior for me, if’n I don’t know what she’ll do. Or maybe I’m a mathematician and I choose to be ready for any choice that arbitrator might make.)
When I’m teaching linear algebra and explain arbitrary parameters to my students, I use exactly this metaphor. How many times does someone else have to come in and arbitrate the value of other variables, before you can tell the questioner what the answer is?
To distinguish the word “arbitrary” from “random”, I think of an arbitratorâi.e., an outside judge chooses something. (Maybe this results in a uniform prior for me, if’n I don’t know what she’ll do. Or maybe I’m a mathematician and I choose to be ready for any choice that arbitrator might make.)
When I’m teaching linear algebra and explain arbitrary parameters to my students, I use exactly this metaphor. How many times does someone else have to come in and arbitrate the value of other variables, before you can tell the questioner what the answer is?