einflussnehmende Randbedingung

11:13 Sep 2, 2019 

Personally I proposed something along those lines because I know that mining in the Artic regions (at least in the North) is subject to considerable restrictions.
This is because of the environmental impact and because there are contracts with the indigenous population that limit the options / the volumes.

10:57 Sep 2, 2019 

I guess it depends on the rest of your paragraph, but I don't see why a Randbedingung must necessarily be limiting something. It's just there. Period.

What's important, though, and this is where I agree with Peter, I suppose, is that you get away from boundary and peripheral (and confounding factor is a Störfaktor).

A Randbedingung is sometimes called a Rahmenbedingung. There's no prioritization. It could be a key factor but one you have little or no control over.

Best

09:05 Sep 2, 2019 

Many thanks to all those of you who have posted answers and/or contributed to the discussion. All your thoughts and ideas are helpful. I am, however, a little surprised that no-one has suggested "limiting factor". Is there a good reason for this?

19:17 Aug 29, 2019 

Source: https://www.projektmagazin.de/glossarterm/randbedingungen

Some examples from the same web page:
"technische Randbedingungen (Materialeigenschaften, Klima, IT-Umgebung usw.)
rechtliche Randbedingungen (Normen, Vorschriften, Gesetze, Richtlinien)
soziale Randbedingungen (Interessensgruppen)
ökonomische Randbedingungen (Budgetvorgaben, Amortisationszeiten usw.)
politische Randbedingungen (Wahl der Kooperationspartner, Auftragnehmer usw.)"

I think this is what some people mean by German hypercorrectness; I don't believe you need a special word for this in English. What's the issue with one as simple as factor or constraint?

"Other factors":
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zt666sg/revision/3

"Other influential factors":
https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing....

Take a look at "Hydrocarbons and resource extraction: opportunities and constraints" on https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201415/ldselect/ldar...

It says factor or complicating factor, nothing more.

Best

19:10 Aug 29, 2019 

I'll have to make it brief, but anyway:

1) "Arktisch" only refers to the region around the North Pole. I have no idea why you want to turn "arctic" into "polar," which is not what your text says.

2) Boundary conditions are used for differential equations. Here's an explanation:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8cb3/56da070d83110b5626a5ea...

Though it's not true that ENS don't use the term in the "real world." Example from a UK government website:
https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/idoxWAM/doc/Other-777329.pdf?extensi...

(I guess the above is close to Peter's OED definition.)

3) I've rarely seen a group of native speakers so willing to make educated guesses based on context. ENS seem to love it. At most, there's a 50/50 chance you'll be getting it right.

In German:
"vorgegebene, vorzufindende Bedingung, die bei etwas zu beachten ist"
https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Randbedingung

Another:
"Die Randbedingungen eines Projektes sind die vom Projektumfeld vorgegebenen Bedingungen, die bei der Projektplanung nicht beeinflussbar sind und daher als gegebene Größen verwendet werden müssen."

[...]

18:54 Aug 29, 2019 

According to OED a parameter can be
A numerical or other measurable factor forming one of a set that defines a system or sets the conditions of its operation
Or
A limit or boundary which defines the scope of a particular process or activity

16:22 Aug 29, 2019 

I take your point and may well myself be 'barking' up the wrong Rand- vs. Rahmenbedingungen tree, but - as I know from a long series of law & lingo exams - a pass answer is literally one 'within acceptable parameters'. I still find it hard to see that the location in the Arctic region can be labelled a 'parameter'.

15:45 Aug 29, 2019 

Michael and Adrian, as far as I see it, our three suggestions reflect more or less the same reading of the German term as it is being used in the context described. I don't see that "general parameters" implies some sort of rigid constraint. We also need to remember that whatever the precise dictionary definition of Randbedingung may be, a translator has to consider what the writer actually means to say as well as the particular words he/she may choose to express the idea.