[dey-tuh, dat-uh, dah-tuh] 
| 1. | a pl. of datum. |
| 2. | (used with a plural verb ) individual facts, statistics, or items of information: These data represent the results of our analyses. Data are entered by terminal for immediate processing by the computer. |
| 3. | (used with a singular verb) a body of facts; information: Additional data is available from the president of the firm. |
[dey-tuhm, dat-uhm, dah-tuhm] [dey-tuh, dat-uh, dah-tuh] for 1–3, da⋅tums for 4, 5. | 1. | a single piece of information, as a fact, statistic, or code; an item of data. |
| 2. | Philosophy.
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| 3. | Also called sense datum. Epistemology. the object of knowledge as presented to the mind. Compare ideatum. |
| 4. | Surveying, Civil Engineering. any level surface, line, or point used as a reference in measuring elevations. |
| 5. | Surveying. a basis for horizontal control surveys, consisting of the longitude and latitude of a certain point, the azimuth of a certain line from this point, and two constants used in defining the terrestrial spheroid. |
| da·ta (dā'tə, dāt'ə, dä'tə) pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
[Latin, pl. of datum; see datum.] Usage Note: The word data is the plural of Latin datum, "something given," but it is not always treated as a plural noun in English. The plural usage is still common, as this headline from the New York Times attests: "Data Are Elusive on the Homeless." Sometimes scientists think of data as plural, as in These data do not support the conclusions. But more often scientists and researchers think of data as a singular mass entity like information, and most people now follow this in general usage. Sixty percent of the Usage Panel accepts the use of data with a singular verb and pronoun in the sentence Once the data is in, we can begin to analyze it. A still larger number, 77 percent, accepts the sentence We have very little data on the efficacy of such programs, where the quantifier very little, which is not used with similar plural nouns such as facts and results, implies that data here is indeed singular. |
| da·tum (dā'təm, dāt'əm, dä'təm) n.
[Latin, something given, from neuter past participle of dare, to give; see dō- in Indo-European roots.] |
data data, data processing, jargon
/day't*/ (Or "raw data") Numbers, characters, images, or other method of recording, in a form which can be assessed by a human or (especially) input into a computer, stored and processed there, or transmitted on some digital channel. Computers nearly always represent data in binary.
Data on its own has no meaning, only when interpreted by some kind of data processing system does it take on meaning and become information.
For example, the binary data 01110101 might represent the integer 117 or the ASCII lower case U character or the blue component of a pixel in some video. Which of these it represents is determined by the way it is processed (added, printed, displayed, etc.). Even these numbers, characters or pixels however are still not really information until their context is known, e.g. my bank balance is £117, there are two Us in "vacuum", you have blue eyes.
(2007-09-10)