This refers to the scientific problem of estimating the different causes that led to a particular outcome. Scientists trying to understand an observation may at times have to work backwards to estimate the causal factors behind it. This is in contrast to the forward or the direct problem where scientists try to find the outcome that results from a series of causes. A scientist observing a photograph, for instance, would be faced with the inverse problem while trying to figure out the various causal factors that combined to form the final photograph. The inverse problem is applied to understand processes in a wide variety of sciences.
