dummy variable

noun

1. a variable appearing in a mathematical expression that can be replaced by any arbitrary variable, not occurring in the expression, without affecting the value of the whole

Example Sentences

Applicants that we were unable to classify were categorized as having missing citizenship information, and we included a dummy variable in the model for those cases.

From Science Magazine

For those investigators for whom we could not identify race or ethnicity, we included a dummy variable set to equal one in our analysis to account for missing data.

From Science Magazine