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]] [http://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.

==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.