A variate is a generalization of the concept of a random variable that is defined without reference to a particular type of probabilistic experiment. It is defined as the set of all random variables that obey a given probabilistic law.
It is common practice to denote a variate with a capital letter (most commonly 
). The set of all values that 
can take is then called the range,
denoted 
(Evans et al. 2000, p. 5).
Specific elements in the range of 
are called quantiles and denoted
, and the probability that a variate 
assumes the value 
is denoted 
.
