unknown quantities
What algebra finds
Unknown quantities are factors or elements whose values, effects, or nature cannot yet be determined.
The phrase comes from algebra, where x and y represent numbers to be solved for, but extends to any situation involving uncertainty: The new CEO is still an unknown quantity.
In planning or prediction, unknown quantities are variables that complicate calculation: There are too many unknown quantities to make a reliable forecast.
- mysteriesUnexplained phenomena or events
- variablesChangeable elements in equations
- hidden variableUnobserved influencing cause
- indeterminatesUnspecified or undefined elements
- indefiniteNot precisely determined
wildcards · wild card · long shots · missing piece · question mark · open question · enigma · cipher · indeterminacy · blind spots · gray area · unpredictable · shot in the dark · imponderables · leap of faith · potentiality · hypothesis · ambiguities
unknown quantitiesconstants
Unchanging fixed values
known quantities · invariants · determinates · parameters · coefficients
unknown quantitiesknown quantities
Established, measurable factors
knowns · certainties · givens
unknown quantitiesknown quantities
Established, measurable factors
sure things · safe bets · track records · familiar faces · old hands
unknown, quantities, known, unknowns, knowable, unknowable, knowledge, knowing, knowingly