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Reduce vs Transform - What's the difference?

reduce | transform |

In transitive terms the difference between reduce and transform

is that reduce is to bring to an inferior state or condition while transform is to change the nature, condition or function of; to change in nature, disposition, heart, character, etc.; to convert.

In intransitive terms the difference between reduce and transform

is that reduce is to lose weight while transform is to undergo a transformation.

In transitive mathematics terms the difference between reduce and transform

is that reduce is to simplify an equation or formula without changing its value while transform is to subject to a transformation; to change into another form without altering the value.

As a noun transform is

the result of a transformation.

reduce

English

Verb

  • To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower, to impair.
  • * to reduce weight, speed, heat, expenses, price, personnel etc.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
  • , author=Stephen Ledoux , title=Behaviorism at 100 , volume=100, issue=1, page=60 , magazine= citation , passage=Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training.}}
  • To lose weight.
  • To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
  • * to reduce a sergeant to the ranks
  • * An ancient but reduced family. --.
  • * Nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon something belonging to it, to reduce it. --.
  • * Having reduced their foe to misery beneath their fears. -- .
  • * Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced . --.
  • *
  • Neither [Jones] nor I (in 1966) could conceive of reducing our "science" to the ultimate absurdity of reading Finnish newspapers almost a century and a half old in order to establish "priority."
  • To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.
  • * to reduce a province or a fort
  • To bring to an inferior state or condition.
  • * to reduce a city to ashes
  • (cooking) To decrease the liquid content of food by boiling much of its water off.
  • (chemistry) To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.
  • (metallurgy) To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter.
  • (mathematics) To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value.
  • (legal) To convert to written form (Usage note: this verb almost always take the phrase "to writing").
  • * It is important that all business contracts be reduced to writing.
  • (medicine) To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.
  • (military) To reform a line or column from (a square).
  • Synonyms

    * (to bring down) cut, decrease, lower

    Antonyms

    * (to bring down) increase

    See also

    * reducing agent

    References

    * ----

    transform

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To change greatly the appearance or form of.
  • The alchemists sought to transform lead into gold.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Love may transform me to an oyster.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
  • , author= , title=Well-connected Brains , volume=100, issue=2, page=171 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work. The achievement will transform neuroscience and serve as the starting point for asking questions we could not otherwise have answered, […].}}
  • To change the nature, condition or function of; to change in nature, disposition, heart, character, etc.; to convert.
  • * Bible, Romans xii. 2
  • Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.
  • (mathematics) To subject to a transformation; to change into another form without altering the value.
  • (electricity) To subject to the action of a transformer.
  • (genetics) To subject (a cell) to transformation.
  • To undergo a transformation.
  • Synonyms

    * (change greatly the appearance or form of) alter, change, convert, make over, transmogrify * (sense) alter, change * (undergo a transformation) alter, change

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (mathematics) the result of a transformation
  • Derived terms

    * Fourier transform