Latent and observable variables

Imagine you have a big box with lots of toys inside. Some of the toys are on the top and you can easily see them, while other toys are buried in the bottom of the box and you can't see them until you dig through the top toys to find them. The toys you can see are like observable variables, while the toys you have to dig for are like latent variables.

Observable variables are things that you can see and measure easily. For example, if you see a person's height, weight or hair color, those are observable variables. They are easy to measure and you can see them right away.

On the other hand, hidden variables are not directly observable, and are buried under other variables. They also may not be easy to measure or observe directly. These are called latent variables.

For example, if you want to measure a person's intelligence, it is not something that you can see immediately like hair color. It is a latent variable that is hidden or buried under other observable variables like academic performance or problem-solving skills. So, you need to do some digging to discover the latent variable in that case.

So, latency means hidden or buried and observable means visible or easy to measure. In summary, latent and observable variables refer to the things that we can see and measure easily, and the things that are hidden or buried beneath other variables that we need to do some digging to uncover.