The alternative terms explanatory variable, independent variable, or predictor, are used in a regression analysis.

For a continuous explanatory variable, the same interpretation applies to a unit difference.

Feature vectors are equivalent to the vectors of explanatory variables used in statistical procedures such as linear regression.

When there are more than two explanatory variables, several interaction variables are constructed, with pairwise-products representing pairwise-interactions and higher order products representing higher order interactions.

Regression analysis controls for other relevant variables by including them as regressors (explanatory variables).