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Data vs Datum - What's the difference?

data | datum |

Datum is a related term of data.



As nouns the difference between data and datum

is that data is plural of lang=enCategory:English plurals: Pieces of information while datum is (plural: data) A measurement of something on a scale understood by both the recorder (a person or device) and the reader (another person or device). The scale is arbitrarily defined, such as from 1 to 10 by ones, 1 to 100 by 0.1, or simply true or false, on or off, yes, no, or maybe, etc.

data

English

Alternative forms

* (electronics)

Noun

(wikipedia data) (-) or plural noun
  • English plurals: Pieces of information.
  • (uncountable, collectively) Information, especially in a scientific or computational context.
  • *
    • With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Snakes and ladders , passage=Risk is everywhere.
  • (computing) A representation of facts or ideas in a formalized manner capable of being communicated or manipulated by some process.

    • Usage notes

    * This word is more often used as an uncountable noun with a singular verb than as a plural noun with singular datum. * The definition of data'' in the computing context is from an international standard vocabulary] and is meant to distinguish ''data'' from ''information . However, this distinction is largely ignored by the computing profession.[http://eprints.utas.edu.au/1957/1/Cm1My.pdf

    Derived terms

    * big data * databank * database * datasheet * data acquisition * data analysis * data domain * data element * data entry * data farming * data hiding * data integrity * data maintenance * data management * data mining * data modeling * data path, datapath * data processing * data recovery * data set * data sink * data source * data warehouse * metadata * primary data * raw data

    References

    * (The American Heritage Dictionary's usage note on 'data') * Calpundit: YOU SAY DAY-TA, I SAY DAA-TA * John Quiggin: Data is not the plural of datum * johnaugust.com: ‘Data’ is singular

    Anagrams

    * English disputed terms English words affected by prescriptivism ----

    datum

    English

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (plural:'' data ) A measurement of something on a scale understood by both the recorder (a person or device) and the reader (another person or device). The scale is arbitrarily defined, such as from 1 to 10 by ones, 1 to 100 by 0.1, or simply ''true'' or ''false'', ''on'' or ''off'', ''yes'', ''no'', or ''maybe , etc.
  • (plural: data ) (philosophy) A fact known from direct observation.
  • (plural: data ) (philosophy) A premise from which conclusions are drawn.
  • (plural: datums ) (cartography, engineering) A fixed reference point.
  • * 2007 , Roger F Tomlinson, Thinking about GIS: geographic information system planning for managers
    • Datums are another important map aspect related to projection. A datum provides a base reference for measuring locations on Earth's surface.

    Derived terms

    * datum circle * datum line * datum plane * datum point * datum surface

    Related terms

    * data, information * die, dice

    References

    * AskOxford.com: Is 'data' singular or plural? * (The American Heritage Dictionary's usage note on 'data') * John Quiggin: Data is not the plural of datum * johnaugust.com: ‘Data’ is singular English nouns with irregular plurals English words affected by prescriptivism ----