Concept guide
Identifiability
Also used: structural identifiability · practical identifiability
Whether the specified model, inputs and observations can distinguish parameter values. Structural identifiability asks about ideal information; practical identifiability asks what the actual finite, noisy experiment determines.
An example from the writing
Low-substrate observations of the saturation response can constrain the ratio of its two parameters more strongly than either parameter separately.
A common misconception
A small residual proves unique parameters, or a ridge on a finite grid proves structural non-identifiability.
That inference does not follow. Read the result together with its scope below.
Scope and limits
The browser demonstration concerns a known two-parameter response. Its near-optimal count is a visual diagnostic, not a confidence region or a structural proof.
Try it yourself
Reference sources
The explanations are editorial paraphrases of the sources below. Read domain-specific terminology together with the conditions in its original source.
- Structural and practical identifiability analysis of partially observed dynamical models by exploiting the profile likelihoodRaue et al., Bioinformatics (2009)