orthogonal

Vocabulary Word

Definition

'Orthogonal' refers to things that are right angles to each other, but it's also used when we talk about ideas or things that are independent of each other - like studying and playing, they don't affect each other.

Examples in Different Contexts

In data analytics, 'orthogonal' factors don't correlate. A data scientist might point out, 'These two datasets are orthogonal, so we can treat them independently.'

Practice Scenarios

Business

Scenario:

We've noticed the market trend is positive, but we're not sure if this will have any effect on our product's performance.

Response:

Our product development is orthogonal to market trends, meaning its success isn't dependent on them.

Academics

Scenario:

We need to test this hypothesis from different perspectives. Let's think of some approaches that don't interfere with each other.

Response:

We could use orthogonal research methods, this way we can independently test different aspects of our hypothesis.