title: Variational
text: # Variational
  
  Variational may refer to:
  
  * Calculus of variations, a field of mathematical analysis that deals with maximizing or minimizing functionals
  * Variational method (quantum mechanics), a way of finding approximations to the lowest energy eigenstate or ground state in quantum physics
  * Variational Bayesian methods, a family of techniques for approximating integrals in Bayesian inference and machine learning
  * Variational properties, properties of an organism relating to the production of variation among its offspring in evolutionary biology
  * Variationist sociolinguistics or variational sociolinguistics, the study of variation in language use among speakers or groups of speakers
  