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Jump to navigationJump to searchNew page: '''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 c...
'''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]].
Such propositions may comprise [[number]]s, [[word]]s or [[image]]s.
==Etymology==
The word ''data'' is the plural of [[Latin]] ''[[datum]]'', [[Grammatical gender|neuter]] past [[participle]] of ''dare'', "to give", hence "something given". The [[past participle]] of "to give" has been used for millennia, in the sense of a statement accepted at face value; one of the works of [[Euclid]], circa 300 BC, was the ''Dedomena'' (in Latin, ''Data''). In discussions of problems in [[geometry]], [[mathematics]], [[engineering]], and so on, the terms ''givens'' and ''data'' are used interchangeably. Such usage is the origin of ''data'' as a concept in [[computer science]]: ''data'' are numbers, words, images, etc., accepted as they stand. Pronounced dey-tuh, dat-uh, or dah-tuh.
==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.
==Uses of ''data'' in science and computing==
{{main|Data (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.
Mechanical computing devices are classified according to the means by which they represent data. An [[analog computer]] represents a datum as a voltage, distance, position, or other physical quantity. A [[digital computer]] represents a datum as a sequence of symbols drawn from a fixed [[alphabet]]. The most common digital computers use a binary alphabet, that is, an alphabet of two characters, typically denoted "0" and "1". More familiar representations, such as numbers or letters, are then constructed from the binary alphabet.
Some special forms of data are distinguished. A [[computer program]] is a collection of data, which can be interpreted as instructions. Most computer languages make a distinction between programs and the other data on which programs operate, but in some languages, notably [[Lisp programming language|Lisp]] and similar languages, programs are essentially indistinguishable from other data. It is also useful to distinguish [[metadata]], that is, a description of other data. A similar yet earlier term for metadata is "ancillary data." The prototypical example of metadata is the library catalog, which is a description of the contents of books.
==Meaning of data, information and knowledge==
The terms [[information]] and [[knowledge]] are frequently used for overlapping concepts. These three concepts are ill- or ambiguously defined in the subject matter literature <!--Anyone know what subject matter this is referring to? It may need clarifying. User:Joeblakesley-->. However, In recent interdisciplinary research a few independent specializations of these terms have been proposed.
[[Category: General Reference]]
Such propositions may comprise [[number]]s, [[word]]s or [[image]]s.
==Etymology==
The word ''data'' is the plural of [[Latin]] ''[[datum]]'', [[Grammatical gender|neuter]] past [[participle]] of ''dare'', "to give", hence "something given". The [[past participle]] of "to give" has been used for millennia, in the sense of a statement accepted at face value; one of the works of [[Euclid]], circa 300 BC, was the ''Dedomena'' (in Latin, ''Data''). In discussions of problems in [[geometry]], [[mathematics]], [[engineering]], and so on, the terms ''givens'' and ''data'' are used interchangeably. Such usage is the origin of ''data'' as a concept in [[computer science]]: ''data'' are numbers, words, images, etc., accepted as they stand. Pronounced dey-tuh, dat-uh, or dah-tuh.
==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.
==Uses of ''data'' in science and computing==
{{main|Data (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.
Mechanical computing devices are classified according to the means by which they represent data. An [[analog computer]] represents a datum as a voltage, distance, position, or other physical quantity. A [[digital computer]] represents a datum as a sequence of symbols drawn from a fixed [[alphabet]]. The most common digital computers use a binary alphabet, that is, an alphabet of two characters, typically denoted "0" and "1". More familiar representations, such as numbers or letters, are then constructed from the binary alphabet.
Some special forms of data are distinguished. A [[computer program]] is a collection of data, which can be interpreted as instructions. Most computer languages make a distinction between programs and the other data on which programs operate, but in some languages, notably [[Lisp programming language|Lisp]] and similar languages, programs are essentially indistinguishable from other data. It is also useful to distinguish [[metadata]], that is, a description of other data. A similar yet earlier term for metadata is "ancillary data." The prototypical example of metadata is the library catalog, which is a description of the contents of books.
==Meaning of data, information and knowledge==
The terms [[information]] and [[knowledge]] are frequently used for overlapping concepts. These three concepts are ill- or ambiguously defined in the subject matter literature <!--Anyone know what subject matter this is referring to? It may need clarifying. User:Joeblakesley-->. However, In recent interdisciplinary research a few independent specializations of these terms have been proposed.
[[Category: General Reference]]
