Projection of a factor onto the variables.
Notes: - "Loadings" (plural) refers to a column in the loadings matrix that relates to a particular factor. "loading" (singular) is the particular contribution of a variable in the original space to the factor.
- The loadings on a factor reflect the relationships between the variables on that factor.
- In principal component analysis the loadings are also the cosine angles between the variables and a particular factor.
- In multivariate curve resolution the term "pure component spectrum" is interchangeable with the term "loading" and is therefore deprecated. The term, in spectroscopy, may be confused with the spectrum for a pure material.
See: score
Source:
PAC, 2016, 88, 407. 'Vocabulary of concepts and terms in chemometrics (IUPAC Recommendations 2016)' on page 420 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0605)