Definition
An observable is an experimentally accessible quantity like the concentration of a compound. The observable o is characterized by an observational function g o (x) which relates the quantity of interest, e.g., a concentration x, with the measured quantity, e.g., the intensity y = g o (x) + noise. One part of the observational function is the calibration curve which is a characteristic of the measurement device. Moreover, the observational function determines the chosen quantity of interest, e.g., which compound is evaluated, as well as the noise distribution (Kreutz and Timmer 2009).
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References
Kreutz C, Timmer J (2009) Systems biology: experimental design. FEBS J 276:923–942
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Kreutz, C., Timmer, J. (2013). Observable. In: Dubitzky, W., Wolkenhauer, O., Cho, KH., Yokota, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Systems Biology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9863-7_1468
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9863-7_1468
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