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Notably, a term x is absent in/from Eq. (4).

After consulting Gartner and online common use, I remain confused about how to decide which the correct preposition to use should be?

For my colleague, it was self-evident that it should be "in," but perhaps someone can help explain how one could reason this or if they feel that one seems the accepted use?

Zlatko-Minev
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    I would use "from". Perhaps relevant statistics, statistics from ngram viewer – Willie Wong Feb 24 '20 at 22:16
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    We could tie ourselves in knots on this one. Would you say "absent in class" or 'absent from class?" But again, is not "absent from" the same as "not appearing in?" Absent any context, I would try to decide whether the term x should be present, or would be expected to be present, in which case I would probably choose "absent in." Observing that the term x is missing, but having no expectation as to whether it should, or should not appear, I would probably choose "absent from." In reality, I'm not sure it makes much difference which you choose. Now, I need a break because my head hurts. – Chris Leary Feb 24 '20 at 22:34
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    If you are concerned about the in/from distinction, I would recommend rewording to avoid the word "absent". Why not say "term $x$ does not occur in eq. (4)"? – Rob Arthan Feb 24 '20 at 22:43
  • Than you. @ChrisLeary, I guess the short version is that "absent in" seems a stronger gradation than "absent from," which seems less concerning or striking that something is absent. – Zlatko-Minev Feb 26 '20 at 12:59

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