variable
"A variable is like a little box in the head of the computer. The memory of computers is made of very, very many such boxes. They can be empty, or we can put stuff in them."
"A variable is like a named location in the memory (RAM) of our computer. We can give it any name, such as salary, phone, age, marks, etc."
"When you wrote to us, you used the pronouns I and me to take the place of your name. A variable is like a pronoun: it's a way of talking about a number without calling it by name."
"I find myself explaining to students a lot that "organic chemistry is analog, not digital". Each variable is like a knob that you turn and tune to a different value; and all the variables interact with each other."
where the value of a number can change like the amount of light when using a dimmer switch.
METAMIA is a free database of analogy and metaphor. Anyone can contribute or search. The subject matter can be anything. Science is popular, but poetry is encouraged. The goal is to integrate our fluid muses with the stark literalism of a relational database. Metamia is like a girdle for your muses, a cognitive girdle.