Changes

'''Data''' in everyday language is a [[synonym]] for [[information]]<ref>http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict1&Query=data&Strategy=*&Database=*</ref>.  In the exact sciences there is a clear distinction between data and information, where data is a [[measurement]] that can be disorganized and when the data becomes organized it becomes information.  Data may relate to reality, or to fiction as in a fictional [[movie]].  Data about reality consists of [[proposition]]s.  A large class of practically important propositions are [[measurement]]s or [[observation]]s of a [[variable]].

 

'''Data''' in everyday language is a [[synonym]] for [[information]] [https://www.dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict1&Query=data&Strategy=*&Database=*].  In the exact sciences there is a clear distinction between data and information, where data is a [[measurement]] that can be disorganized and when the data becomes organized it becomes information.  Data may relate to reality, or to fiction as in a fictional [[movie]].  Data about reality consists of [[proposition]]s.  A large class of practically important propositions are [[measurement]]s or [[observation]]s of a [[variable]].

Such propositions may comprise [[number]]s, [[word]]s or [[image]]s.

Such propositions may comprise [[number]]s, [[word]]s or [[image]]s.

==Usage in English==

==Usage in English==

In [[English language|English]], the word ''datum'' is still used in the general sense of "something given", and more specifically in [[cartography]], [[geography]], [[geology]], [[NMR]] and [[technical drawing|drafting]] to mean a reference point, reference line, or reference surface. The Latin plural ''data'' is also used as a plural in English, but it is perhaps more commonly treated as a [[mass noun]] and used in the [[Grammatical number|singular]], at least in day-to-day usage. For example, "This is all the data from the experiment".  This usage is inconsistent with the rules of Latin grammar, which would suggest, "These are all the data from the experiment" instead; each measurement or result is a single ''datum''.  Many (perhaps most) academic, scientific, and professional [[style guides]] (e.g., see page 43 of the [http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2004/WHO_IMD_PUB_04.1.pdf World Health Organization Style Guide]) request that authors treat data as a plural noun.

In [[English language|English]], the word ''datum'' is still used in the general sense of "something given", and more specifically in [[cartography]], [[geography]], [[geology]], [[NMR]] and [[technical drawing|drafting]] to mean a reference point, reference line, or reference surface. The Latin plural ''data'' is also used as a plural in English, but it is perhaps more commonly treated as a [[mass noun]] and used in the [[Grammatical number|singular]], at least in day-to-day usage. For example, "This is all the data from the experiment".  This usage is inconsistent with the rules of Latin grammar, which would suggest, "These are all the data from the experiment" instead; each measurement or result is a single ''datum''.  Many (perhaps most) academic, scientific, and professional [[style guides]] (e.g., see page 43 of the [https://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2004/WHO_IMD_PUB_04.1.pdf World Health Organization Style Guide]) request that authors treat data as a plural noun.

==Uses of ''data'' in science and computing==

==Uses of ''data'' in science and computing==

 

''Raw data'' are [[number]]s, [[character (computing)|characters]], [[image]]s or other outputs from devices to convert physical quantities into symbols, in a very broad sense. Such data are typically further [[data processing|processed]] by a human or [[input]] into a [[computer]], [[Computer storage|stored]] and processed there, or transmitted ([[output]]) to another human or computer. ''Raw data'' is a relative term; data processing commonly occurs by stages, and the "processed data" from one stage may be considered the "raw data" of the next.

''Raw data'' are [[number]]s, [[character (computing)|characters]], [[image]]s or other outputs from devices to convert physical quantities into symbols, in a very broad sense. Such data are typically further [[data processing|processed]] by a human or [[input]] into a [[computer]], [[Computer storage|stored]] and processed there, or transmitted ([[output]]) to another human or computer. ''Raw data'' is a relative term; data processing commonly occurs by stages, and the "processed data" from one stage may be considered the "raw data" of the next.

[[Category: General Reference]]

[[Category: General Reference]]