I have tried many times to understand this and thus far failed every time. What does it mean to say that data is orthogonal? Can you provide an example of data that would be orthogonal versus data that would not be orthogonal?
In: Mathematics
I like to remember it by thinking about what does “orthogonal” mean in geometry. Two lines are orthogonal if they have are 90 degrees from each other in euclidian (x and y) space.
The way you represent variables in the math of statistics is in a surface of multiple variables (let’s just think of two to make it simple). If I can chart one variable along the x axis and one on the y axis, then the math becomes much simpler because I don’t have to take into account the relationship between the two. That means your variables are orthogonal and you can simplify the equations.
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