Noun

(en-noun)

Specter, apparition.

A range; a continuous, infinite, one-dimensional set, possibly bounded by extremes.

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=November 7, author=Matt Bai, title=Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds, work=New York Times citation

, passage=As Mr. Obama prepared to take the oath, his approval rating touched a remarkable 70 percent in some polling — a reflection of good will across the political spectrum .}}

Specifically, a range of colours representing light (electromagnetic radiation) of contiguous frequencies; hence electromagnetic spectrum, visible spectrum, ultraviolet spectrum, etc.

* 2010 October 30, Jim Giles, Jammed!'', in '' ,

Current 3G technologies can send roughly 1 bit of data - a one or a zero - per second over each 1 Hz of spectrum that the operator owns.

(chemistry) The pattern of absorption or emission of radiation produced by a substance when subjected to energy (radiation, heat, electricity, etc.).

(mathematics, linear algebra) The set of eigenvalues of a matrix.

(mathematics, functional analysis) Of a bounded linear operator A'', the set of scalar values ? such that the operator ''A—?I'', where ''I denotes the identity operator, does not have a bounded inverse; intended as a generalisation of the linear algebra sense.

Noun

(en-noun)

A continuous series or whole, no part of which is noticeably different from its adjacent parts, although the ends or extremes of it are very different from each other.

A continuous extent.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03

, author=(Henry Petroski) , title=Opening Doors , volume=100, issue=2, page=112-3 , magazine= citation , passage=A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.}}

(mathematics) The set of all real numbers and, more generally, a compact connected metric space.

(musical instruments) A touch-sensitive strip, similar to an electronic standard musical keyboard, except that the note steps are of a semitone, and so are not separately marked.