# How do you know when translate and use "+" and " \* "
**URL:** https://isgw-forum.colorado.edu/t/how-do-you-know-when-translate-and-use-and/788
**Category:** Day 3
**Created:** [June 3, 2026, 8:23pm UTC](https://isgw-forum.colorado.edu/t/how-do-you-know-when-translate-and-use-and/788 "2026-06-03T20:23:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@anonymous](https://isgw-forum.colorado.edu/u/anonymous)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2026, 8:23pm UTC](https://isgw-forum.colorado.edu/t/how-do-you-know-when-translate-and-use-and/788/1 "2026-06-03T20:23:06Z")
When translating equations into path analysis models and vice versa - how do you know when translate and use “+” and " \* " - so for example where the is mean = SNP\*b1 + b0 in slide 13 of the lectures slides given before the session.
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### Author:  [@anonymous](https://isgw-forum.colorado.edu/u/anonymous)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2026, 8:23pm UTC](https://isgw-forum.colorado.edu/t/how-do-you-know-when-translate-and-use-and/788/2 "2026-06-03T20:23:17Z")
I am unsure what the basic purpose of Path Analysis is; is it something you construct out of intended phenotype/predictor/covariates to dictate the construction of the regression model- or is it dictated by computed components…? Is it contructed before or with the knowledge of additive/dominant genetic variance?
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### Author:  [@anonymous](https://isgw-forum.colorado.edu/u/anonymous)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2026, 8:23pm UTC](https://isgw-forum.colorado.edu/t/how-do-you-know-when-translate-and-use-and/788/3 "2026-06-03T20:23:28Z")
A path diagram is a schematic depiction of a mathematical equation. Most people have an easier time interpreting pictorial depictions than mathematical depictions, but, if the path diagram is sufficiently complete, the algebraic and schematic depictions are equivalent.
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### Author:  [@michael.neale](https://isgw-forum.colorado.edu/u/michael.neale)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2026, 1:45pm UTC](https://isgw-forum.colorado.edu/t/how-do-you-know-when-translate-and-use-and/788/4 "2026-06-05T13:45:30Z")
Yes, the crucial thing is that a properly drawn path diagram is a mathematically complete description of the model. This identity enables diagrams to be used directly as a model specification which can then be fit together. [Onyx-sem.com](http://Onyx-sem.com) does this, and there is a diagram interface for OpenMx under development that will add that functionality.