Data in everyday language is a synonym for information.^[1] 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 propositions. A large class of practically important propositions are measurements or observations of a variable. Such propositions may comprise numbers, words or images.

Etymology

The word data is the plural of Latin datum, 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.

Experimental data are data generated within the context of a scientific investigation.

Usage in English

In English, the word datum is still used in the general sense of "something given", and more specifically in cartography, geography, geology, NMR and 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 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 World Health Organization Style Guide) request that authors treat data as a plural noun.

Uses of data in science and computing

Biological data

Data acquisition

Data analysis

Data domain

Data element

Data farming

Data management

Data mining

Data modeling

Data processing

Data recovery

Data remanence and data destruction techniques.

Data set

Data warehouse

Database

Datasheet

Drylabbing, creating false data.

Scientific data archiving

Statistics

Metadata

Data maintenance

References

1. ^ http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict1&Query=data&Strategy=*&Database=*

This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.

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