Abstraction is a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal ( real or concrete ) signifiers, first principles , or other methods.
120-619: Information is an abstract concept that refers to something which has the power to inform . At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the interpretation (perhaps formally ) of that which may be sensed , or their abstractions . Any natural process that is not completely random and any observable pattern in any medium can be said to convey some amount of information. Whereas digital signals and other data use discrete signs to convey information, other phenomena and artifacts such as analogue signals , poems , pictures , music or other sounds , and currents convey information in
240-472: A x ] {\displaystyle x(n)=x(n+N)\quad \forall n\in [n_{0},n_{max}]} Where: T {\displaystyle T} = fundamental time period , 1 / T = f {\displaystyle 1/T=f} = fundamental frequency . The same can be applied to N {\displaystyle N} . A periodic signal will repeat for every period. Signals can be classified as continuous or discrete time . In
360-573: A knowledge worker in performing research and making decisions, including steps such as: Stewart (2001) argues that transformation of information into knowledge is critical, lying at the core of value creation and competitive advantage for the modern enterprise. In a biological framework, Mizraji has described information as an entity emerging from the interaction of patterns with receptor systems (eg: in molecular or neural receptors capable of interacting with specific patterns, information emerges from those interactions). In addition, he has incorporated
480-407: A sensor , and often the original form of a signal is converted to another form of energy using a transducer . For example, a microphone converts an acoustic signal to a voltage waveform, and a speaker does the reverse. Another important property of a signal is its entropy or information content . Information theory serves as the formal study of signals and their content. The information of
600-445: A transducer . For example, in sound recording, fluctuations in air pressure (that is to say, sound ) strike the diaphragm of a microphone which induces corresponding electrical fluctuations. The voltage or the current is said to be an analog of the sound. A digital signal is a signal that is constructed from a discrete set of waveforms of a physical quantity so as to represent a sequence of discrete values. A logic signal
720-418: A causal input at a later time (and perhaps another place). Some information is important because of association with other information but eventually there must be a connection to a causal input. In practice, information is usually carried by weak stimuli that must be detected by specialized sensory systems and amplified by energy inputs before they can be functional to the organism or system. For example, light
840-743: A concept of that feature. The notion of abstraction is important to understanding some philosophical controversies surrounding empiricism and the problem of universals . It has also recently become popular in formal logic under predicate abstraction . Another philosophical tool for the discussion of abstraction is thought space. John Locke defined abstraction in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding : 'So words are used to stand as outward marks of our internal ideas, which are taken from particular things; but if every particular idea that we take in had its own special name, there would be no end to names. To prevent this,
960-459: A continually fluctuating voltage on a line that can be digitized by an analog-to-digital converter circuit, wherein the circuit will read the voltage level on the line, say, every 50 microseconds and represent each reading with a fixed number of bits. The resulting stream of numbers is stored as digital data on a discrete-time and quantized-amplitude signal. Computers and other digital devices are restricted to discrete time. According to
1080-453: A detective or philosopher/scientist/engineer might seek to learn about something, at progressively deeper levels of detail, to solve a crime or a puzzle. In philosophical terminology , abstraction is the thought process wherein ideas are distanced from objects . But an idea can be symbolized . Typically, abstraction is used in the arts as a synonym for abstract art in general. Strictly speaking, it refers to art unconcerned with
1200-449: A discrete-time signal is the sampling of a continuous signal, approximating the signal by a sequence of its values at particular time instants. If a signal is to be represented as a sequence of digital data, it is impossible to maintain exact precision – each number in the sequence must have a finite number of digits. As a result, the values of such a signal must be quantized into a finite set for practical representation. Quantization
1320-466: A finite positive value, but their energy are infinite . P = lim T → ∞ 1 T ∫ − T / 2 T / 2 s 2 ( t ) d t {\displaystyle P=\lim _{T\rightarrow \infty }{\frac {1}{T}}\int _{-T/2}^{T/2}s^{2}(t)dt} Deterministic signals are those whose values at any time are predictable and can be calculated by
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#17327662639541440-565: A framework (categorical concepts related to computing problems) from specific instances which implement details. This means that the program code can be written so that code does not have to depend on the specific details of supporting applications, operating system software, or hardware, but on a categorical concept of the solution. A solution to the problem can then be integrated into the system framework with minimal additional work. This allows programmers to take advantage of another programmer's work, while requiring only an abstract understanding of
1560-434: A function must exist, even if it is not accessible for humans; A view surmised by Albert Einstein with the assertion that " God does not play dice ". Modern astronomy cites the mechanical sense of information in the black hole information paradox , positing that, because the complete evaporation of a black hole into Hawking radiation leaves nothing except an expanding cloud of homogeneous particles, this results in
1680-472: A general name that is applicable to any existing thing that fits that abstract idea.' (2.11.9) Carl Jung 's definition of abstraction broadened its scope beyond the thinking process to include exactly four mutually exclusive, different complementary psychological functions: sensation, intuition, feeling, and thinking. Together they form a structural totality of the differentiating abstraction process. Abstraction operates in one of these functions when it excludes
1800-448: A material process. Alfred Sohn-Rethel (1899–1990) asked: "Can there be abstraction other than by thought?" He used the example of commodity abstraction to show that abstraction occurs in practice as people create systems of abstract exchange that extend beyond the immediate physicality of the object and yet have real and immediate consequences. This work was extended through the 'Constitutive Abstraction' approach of writers associated with
1920-467: A mathematical equation. Random signals are signals that take on random values at any given time instant and must be modeled stochastically . An even signal satisfies the condition x ( t ) = x ( − t ) {\displaystyle x(t)=x(-t)} or equivalently if the following equation holds for all t {\displaystyle t} and − t {\displaystyle -t} in
2040-453: A more continuous form. Information is not knowledge itself, but the meaning that may be derived from a representation through interpretation. The concept of information is relevant or connected to various concepts, including constraint , communication , control , data , form , education , knowledge , meaning , understanding , mental stimuli , pattern , perception , proposition , representation , and entropy . Information
2160-434: A nutritional function. The cognitive scientist and applied mathematician Ronaldo Vigo argues that information is a concept that requires at least two related entities to make quantitative sense. These are, any dimensionally defined category of objects S, and any of its subsets R. R, in essence, is a representation of S, or, in other words, conveys representational (and hence, conceptual) information about S. Vigo then defines
2280-496: A particular place and time. However, in the secondary sense of the term 'abstraction', this physical object can carry materially abstracting processes. For example, record-keeping aids throughout the Fertile Crescent included calculi (clay spheres, cones, etc.) which represented counts of items, probably livestock or grains, sealed in containers. According to Schmandt-Besserat 1981 , these clay containers contained tokens,
2400-551: A particular property (e.g., good ). Questions about the properties of things are then propositions about predicates, which propositions remain to be evaluated by the investigator. In the graph 1 below , the graphical relationships like the arrows joining boxes and ellipses might denote predicates. Abstractions sometimes have ambiguous referents . For example, " happiness " can mean experiencing various positive emotions, but can also refer to life satisfaction and subjective well-being . Likewise, " architecture " refers not only to
2520-553: A posed question. Whether the answer provides knowledge depends on the informed person. So a generalized definition of the concept should be: "Information" = An answer to a specific question". When Marshall McLuhan speaks of media and their effects on human cultures, he refers to the structure of artifacts that in turn shape our behaviors and mindsets. Also, pheromones are often said to be "information" in this sense. These sections are using measurements of data rather than information, as information cannot be directly measured. It
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#17327662639542640-435: A probabilistic approach to suppressing random disturbances. Engineering disciplines such as electrical engineering have advanced the design, study, and implementation of systems involving transmission , storage , and manipulation of information. In the latter half of the 20th century, electrical engineering itself separated into several disciplines: electronic engineering and computer engineering developed to specialize in
2760-476: A remote location by a transmitter and received using radio receivers . In electrical engineering (EE) programs, signals are covered in a class and field of study known as signals and systems . Depending on the school, undergraduate EE students generally take the class as juniors or seniors, normally depending on the number and level of previous linear algebra and differential equation classes they have taken. The field studies input and output signals, and
2880-399: A sequence of discrete values which can only take on one of a finite number of values. The term analog signal usually refers to electrical signals ; however, analog signals may use other mediums such as mechanical , pneumatic or hydraulic . An analog signal uses some property of the medium to convey the signal's information. For example, an aneroid barometer uses rotary position as
3000-419: A signal is often accompanied by noise , which primarily refers to unwanted modifications of signals, but is often extended to include unwanted signals conflicting with desired signals ( crosstalk ). The reduction of noise is covered in part under the heading of signal integrity . The separation of desired signals from background noise is the field of signal recovery , one branch of which is estimation theory ,
3120-428: A signal to share messages between observers. The IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing includes audio , video , speech, image , sonar , and radar as examples of signals. A signal may also be defined as any observable change in a quantity over space or time (a time series ), even if it does not carry information. In nature, signals can be actions done by an organism to alert other organisms, ranging from
3240-439: A specific cat, to semantic abstractions such as the "idea" of a CAT, to classes of objects such as "mammals" and even categories such as " object " as opposed to "action". Non-existent things in any particular place and time are often seen as abstract. By contrast, instances, or members, of such an abstract thing might exist in many different places and times. Those abstract things are then said to be multiply instantiated , in
3360-416: A type of input to an organism or system . Inputs are of two kinds; some inputs are important to the function of the organism (for example, food) or system ( energy ) by themselves. In his book Sensory Ecology biophysicist David B. Dusenbery called these causal inputs. Other inputs (information) are important only because they are associated with causal inputs and can be used to predict the occurrence of
3480-901: Is entropy . Entropy quantifies the amount of uncertainty involved in the value of a random variable or the outcome of a random process . For example, identifying the outcome of a fair coin flip (with two equally likely outcomes) provides less information (lower entropy) than specifying the outcome from a roll of a die (with six equally likely outcomes). Some other important measures in information theory are mutual information , channel capacity, error exponents , and relative entropy . Important sub-fields of information theory include source coding , algorithmic complexity theory , algorithmic information theory , and information-theoretic security . Applications of fundamental topics of information theory include source coding/ data compression (e.g. for ZIP files ), and channel coding/ error detection and correction (e.g. for DSL ). Its impact has been crucial to
3600-483: Is a digital signal with only two possible values, and describes an arbitrary bit stream . Other types of digital signals can represent three-valued logic or higher valued logics. Alternatively, a digital signal may be considered to be the sequence of codes represented by such a physical quantity. The physical quantity may be a variable electric current or voltage, the intensity, phase or polarization of an optical or other electromagnetic field , acoustic pressure,
3720-433: Is a major concept in both classical physics and quantum mechanics , encompassing the ability, real or theoretical, of an agent to predict the future state of a system based on knowledge gathered during its past and present. Determinism is a philosophical theory holding that causal determination can predict all future events, positing a fully predictable universe described by classical physicist Pierre-Simon Laplace as "
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3840-504: Is a set that the sender and receiver of information must know before exchanging information. Digital information, for example, consists of building blocks that are all number sequences. Each number sequence represents a selection from its domain. The sender and receiver of digital information (number sequences) must know the domain and binary format of each number sequence before exchanging information. By defining number sequences online, this would be systematically and universally usable. Before
3960-414: Is a subset of the field of mathematical modeling . It involves circuit analysis and design via mathematical modeling and some numerical methods, and was updated several decades ago with dynamical systems tools including differential equations, and recently, Lagrangians . Students are expected to understand the modeling tools as well as the mathematics, physics, circuit analysis, and transformations between
4080-420: Is always conveyed as the content of a message. Information can be encoded into various forms for transmission and interpretation (for example, information may be encoded into a sequence of signs , or transmitted via a signal ). It can also be encrypted for safe storage and communication. The uncertainty of an event is measured by its probability of occurrence. Uncertainty is inversely proportional to
4200-554: Is an elementary methodological tool in several disciplines of social science. These disciplines have definite and different concepts of "man" that highlight those aspects of man and his behaviour by idealization that are relevant for the given human science . For example, homo sociologicus is the man as sociology abstracts and idealizes it, depicting man as a social being. Moreover, we could talk about homo cyber sapiens (the man who can extend his biologically determined intelligence thanks to new technologies), or homo creativus (who
4320-530: Is an uncountable mass noun . Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification , storage , and communication of information. The field itself was fundamentally established by the work of Claude Shannon in the 1940s, with earlier contributions by Harry Nyquist and Ralph Hartley in the 1920s. The field is at the intersection of probability theory , statistics , computer science, statistical mechanics , information engineering , and electrical engineering . A key measure in information theory
4440-407: Is any continuous signal for which the time-varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity, i.e., analogous to another time varying signal. For example, in an analog audio signal , the instantaneous voltage of the signal varies continuously with the sound pressure . It differs from a digital signal , in which the continuous quantity is a representation of
4560-616: Is between discrete-valued and continuous-valued. Particularly in digital signal processing , a digital signal may be defined as a sequence of discrete values, typically associated with an underlying continuous-valued physical process. In digital electronics , digital signals are the continuous-time waveform signals in a digital system, representing a bit-stream. Signals may also be categorized by their spatial distributions as either point source signals (PSSs) or distributed source signals (DSSs). In Signals and Systems, signals can be classified according to many criteria, mainly: according to
4680-470: Is estimated that the world's technological capacity to store information grew from 2.6 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 1986 – which is the informational equivalent to less than one 730-MB CD-ROM per person (539 MB per person) – to 295 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2007. This is the informational equivalent of almost 61 CD-ROM per person in 2007. The world's combined technological capacity to receive information through one-way broadcast networks
4800-415: Is forecast to increase rapidly, reaching 64.2 zettabytes in 2020. Over the next five years up to 2025, global data creation is projected to grow to more than 180 zettabytes. Records are specialized forms of information. Essentially, records are information produced consciously or as by-products of business activities or transactions and retained because of their value. Primarily, their value is as evidence of
4920-450: Is log 2 (4/1) = 2 bits. A 2011 Science article estimates that 97% of technologically stored information was already in digital bits in 2007 and that the year 2002 was the beginning of the digital age for information storage (with digital storage capacity bypassing analogue for the first time). Information can be defined exactly by set theory: "Information is a selection from the domain of information". The "domain of information"
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5040-402: Is made by a transducer that converts the signal from its original form to a waveform expressed as a current or a voltage , or electromagnetic radiation , for example, an optical signal or radio transmission . Once expressed as an electronic signal, the signal is available for further processing by electrical devices such as electronic amplifiers and filters , and can be transmitted to
5160-422: Is mainly (but not only, e.g. plants can grow in the direction of the light source) a causal input to plants but for animals it only provides information. The colored light reflected from a flower is too weak for photosynthesis but the visual system of the bee detects it and the bee's nervous system uses the information to guide the bee to the flower, where the bee often finds nectar or pollen, which are causal inputs,
5280-469: Is now constitutively and materially more abstract than at the time when princes ruled as the embodiment of extended power'. The way that physical objects, like rocks and trees, have being differs from the way that properties of abstract concepts or relations have being, for example the way the concrete , particular , individuals pictured in picture 1 exist differs from the way the concepts illustrated in graph 1 exist. That difference accounts for
5400-414: Is often processed iteratively: Data available at one step are processed into information to be interpreted and processed at the next step. For example, in written text each symbol or letter conveys information relevant to the word it is part of, each word conveys information relevant to the phrase it is part of, each phrase conveys information relevant to the sentence it is part of, and so on until at
5520-436: Is put to use when the business subsequently wants to identify the most popular or least popular dish. Information can be transmitted in time, via data storage , and space, via communication and telecommunication . Information is expressed either as the content of a message or through direct or indirect observation . That which is perceived can be construed as a message in its own right, and in that sense, all information
5640-432: Is said to be periodic if it satisfies the condition: x ( t ) = x ( t + T ) ∀ t ∈ [ t 0 , t m a x ] {\displaystyle x(t)=x(t+T)\quad \forall t\in [t_{0},t_{max}]} or x ( n ) = x ( n + N ) ∀ n ∈ [ n 0 , n m
5760-426: Is simply creative). Abstraction (combined with Weberian idealization ) plays a crucial role in economics - hence abstractions such as "the market" and the generalized concept of " business ". Breaking away from directly experienced reality was a common trend in 19th-century sciences (especially physics ), and this was the effort which fundamentally determined the way economics tried (and still tries) to approach
5880-471: Is that highly abstract concepts are more difficult to learn, and might require a degree of mathematical maturity and experience before they can be assimilated. In music, the term abstraction can be used to describe improvisatory approaches to interpretation, and may sometimes indicate abandonment of tonality . Atonal music has no key signature, and is characterized by the exploration of internal numeric relationships. A recent meta-analysis suggests that
6000-418: Is the outcome of this process — a concept that acts as a common noun for all subordinate concepts and connects any related concepts as a group , field , or category . Conceptual abstractions may be made by filtering the information content of a concept or an observable phenomenon , selecting only those aspects which are relevant for a particular purpose. For example, abstracting a leather soccer ball to
6120-401: Is the process of converting a continuous analog audio signal to a digital signal with discrete numerical values of integers. Naturally occurring signals can be converted to electronic signals by various sensors . Examples include: Signal processing is the manipulation of signals. A common example is signal transmission between different locations. The embodiment of a signal in electrical form
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#17327662639546240-439: Is the ultimate and common feature of all bodies. Neoclassical economists created the indefinitely abstract notion of homo economicus by following the same procedure. Economists abstract from all individual and personal qualities in order to get to those characteristics that embody the essence of economic activity. Eventually, it is the substance of the economic man that they try to grasp. Any characteristic beyond it only disturbs
6360-465: The agent and CAT:Elsie depicts an example of an is-a relationship, as does the arrow between the location and the MAT . The arrows between the gerund / present participle SITTING and the nouns agent and location express the diagram 's basic relationship; "agent is SITTING on location" ; Elsie is an instance of CAT . Although the description sitting-on (graph 1) is more abstract than
6480-408: The commodity abstraction recognizes a parallel process. The state (polity) as both concept and material practice exemplifies the two sides of this process of abstraction. Conceptually, 'the current concept of the state is an abstraction from the much more concrete early-modern use as the standing or status of the prince, his visible estates'. At the same time, materially, the 'practice of statehood
6600-407: The human brain suggests that the left and right hemispheres differ in their handling of abstraction. For example, one meta-analysis reviewing human brain lesions has shown a left hemisphere bias during tool usage. Abstraction in philosophy is the process (or, to some, the alleged process) in concept formation of recognizing some set of common features in individuals , and on that basis forming
6720-424: The magnetization of a magnetic storage media, etc. Digital signals are present in all digital electronics , notably computing equipment and data transmission . With digital signals, system noise, provided it is not too great, will not affect system operation whereas noise always degrades the operation of analog signals to some degree. Digital signals often arise via sampling of analog signals, for example,
6840-409: The ontological usefulness of the word "abstract". The word applies to properties and relations to mark the fact that, if they exist, they do not exist in space or time, but that instances of them can exist, potentially in many different places and times. A physical object (a possible referent of a concept or word) is considered concrete (not abstract) if it is a particular individual that occupies
6960-491: The themes below . Thinking in abstractions is considered by anthropologists , archaeologists , and sociologists to be one of the key traits in modern human behaviour , which is believed to have developed between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. Its development is likely to have been closely connected with the development of human language , which (whether spoken or written) appears to both involve and facilitate abstract thinking. Abstraction involves induction of ideas or
7080-691: The 8 domains. Because mechanical engineering (ME) topics like friction, dampening etc. have very close analogies in signal science (inductance, resistance, voltage, etc.), many of the tools originally used in ME transformations (Laplace and Fourier transforms, Lagrangians, sampling theory, probability, difference equations, etc.) have now been applied to signals, circuits, systems and their components, analysis and design in EE. Dynamical systems that involve noise, filtering and other random or chaotic attractors and repellers have now placed stochastic sciences and statistics between
7200-841: The Journal Arena . Two books that have taken this theme of the abstraction of social relations as an organizing process in human history are Nation Formation: Towards a Theory of Abstract Community (1996) and an associated volume published in 2006, Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: Bringing Theory Back In . These books argue that a nation is an abstract community bringing together strangers who will never meet as such; thus constituting materially real and substantial, but abstracted and mediated relations. The books suggest that contemporary processes of globalization and mediatization have contributed to materially abstracting relations between people, with major consequences for how humans live their lives . One can readily argue that abstraction
7320-412: The abstract requires an intuitive or common experience between the communicator and the communication recipient. This is true for all verbal/abstract communication. For example, many different things can be red . Likewise, many things sit on surfaces (as in picture 1 , to the right). The property of redness and the relation sitting-on are therefore abstractions of those objects. Specifically,
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#17327662639547440-434: The activities of the organization but they may also be retained for their informational value. Sound records management ensures that the integrity of records is preserved for as long as they are required. The international standard on records management, ISO 15489, defines records as "information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in
7560-416: The amount of information that R conveys about S as the rate of change in the complexity of S whenever the objects in R are removed from S. Under "Vigo information", pattern, invariance, complexity, representation, and information – five fundamental constructs of universal science – are unified under a novel mathematical framework. Among other things, the framework aims to overcome
7680-572: The approach of abstraction (going from particular facts collected into one general idea). Newton (1642–1727) derived the motion of the planets from Copernicus ' (1473–1543) simplification, that the Sun is the center of the Solar System ; Kepler (1571–1630) compressed thousands of measurements into one expression to finally conclude that Mars moves in an elliptical orbit about the Sun; Galileo (1564–1642) repeated one hundred specific experiments into
7800-401: The association between signs and behaviour. Semantics can be considered as the study of the link between symbols and their referents or concepts – particularly the way that signs relate to human behavior. Syntax is concerned with the formalism used to represent a message. Syntax as an area studies the form of communication in terms of the logic and grammar of sign systems. Syntax is devoted to
7920-427: The biological order and participating in the development of multicellular organisms, precedes by millions of years the emergence of human consciousness and the creation of the scientific culture that produced the chemical nomenclature. Systems theory at times seems to refer to information in this sense, assuming information does not necessarily involve any conscious mind, and patterns circulating (due to feedback ) in
8040-403: The chosen language in terms of its agreed syntax and semantics. The sender codes the message in the language and sends the message as signals along some communication channel (empirics). The chosen communication channel has inherent properties that determine outcomes such as the speed at which communication can take place, and over what distance. The existence of information about a closed system
8160-427: The color red . That definition, however, suffers from the difficulty of deciding which things are real (i.e. which things exist in reality). For example, it is difficult to agree to whether concepts like God , the number three , and goodness are real, abstract, or both. An approach to resolving such difficulty is to use predicates as a general term for whether things are variously real, abstract, concrete, or of
8280-518: The computation and digital representation of data, and assists users in pattern recognition and anomaly detection . Information security (shortened as InfoSec) is the ongoing process of exercising due diligence to protect information, and information systems, from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, destruction, modification, disruption or distribution, through algorithms and procedures focused on monitoring and detection, as well as incident response and repair. Abstraction "An abstraction"
8400-561: The concept "cat" or the concept "telephone". Although the concepts "cat" and "telephone" are abstractions , they are not abstract in the sense of the objects in graph 1 below . We might look at other graphs, in a progression from cat to mammal to animal , and see that animal is more abstract than mammal ; but on the other hand mammal is a harder idea to express, certainly in relation to marsupial or monotreme . Perhaps confusingly, some philosophies refer to tropes (instances of properties) as abstract particulars —e.g.,
8520-414: The conceptual diagram graph 1 identifies only three boxes, two ellipses, and four arrows (and their five labels), whereas the picture 1 shows much more pictorial detail, with the scores of implied relationships as implicit in the picture rather than with the nine explicit details in the graph. Graph 1 details some explicit relationships between the objects of the diagram. For example, the arrow between
8640-415: The context of some social situation. The social situation sets the context for the intentions conveyed (pragmatics) and the form of communication. In a communicative situation intentions are expressed through messages that comprise collections of inter-related signs taken from a language mutually understood by the agents involved in the communication. Mutual understanding implies that agents involved understand
8760-625: The design and analysis of systems that manipulate physical signals, while design engineering developed to address the functional design of signals in user–machine interfaces . Definitions specific to sub-fields are common: Signals can be categorized in various ways. The most common distinction is between discrete and continuous spaces that the functions are defined over, for example, discrete and continuous-time domains. Discrete-time signals are often referred to as time series in other fields. Continuous-time signals are often referred to as continuous signals . A second important distinction
8880-456: The design of safe, functional buildings, but also to elements of creation and innovation which aim at elegant solutions to construction problems, to the use of space, and to the attempt to evoke an emotional response in the builders, owners, viewers and users of the building. Abstraction uses a strategy of simplification, wherein formerly concrete details are left ambiguous, vague, or undefined; thus effective communication about things in
9000-579: The different feature of values, classified into analog signals and digital signals ; according to the determinacy of signals, classified into deterministic signals and random signals; according to the strength of signals , classified into energy signals and power signals. Two main types of signals encountered in practice are analog and digital . The figure shows a digital signal that results from approximating an analog signal by its values at particular time instants. Digital signals are quantized , while analog signals are continuous. An analog signal
9120-442: The distinction between "abstract" and " concrete ". In this sense the process of abstraction entails the identification of similarities between objects, and the process of associating these objects with an abstraction (which is itself an object ). Chains of abstractions can be construed , moving from neural impulses arising from sensory perception to basic abstractions such as color or shape , to experiential abstractions such as
9240-465: The domain of x {\displaystyle x} : An odd signal satisfies the condition x ( t ) = − x ( − t ) {\displaystyle x(t)=-x(-t)} or equivalently if the following equation holds for all t {\displaystyle t} and − t {\displaystyle -t} in the domain of x {\displaystyle x} : A signal
9360-452: The economic aspects of social life. It is abstraction we meet in the case of both Newton's physics and the neoclassical theory, since the goal was to grasp the unchangeable and timeless essence of phenomena. For example, Newton created the concept of the material point by following the abstraction method so that he abstracted from the dimension and shape of any perceptible object, preserving only inertial and translational motion. Material point
9480-400: The effect of its past and the cause of its future ". Quantum physics instead encodes information as a wave function , which prevents observers from directly identifying all of its possible measurements . Prior to the publication of Bell's theorem , determinists reconciled with this behavior using hidden variable theories , which argued that the information necessary to predict the future of
9600-435: The exchanged digital number sequence, an efficient unique link to its online definition can be set. This online-defined digital information (number sequence) would be globally comparable and globally searchable. The English word "information" comes from Middle French enformacion/informacion/information 'a criminal investigation' and its etymon, Latin informatiō(n) 'conception, teaching, creation'. In English, "information"
9720-417: The final step information is interpreted and becomes knowledge in a given domain . In a digital signal , bits may be interpreted into the symbols, letters, numbers, or structures that convey the information available at the next level up. The key characteristic of information is that it is subject to interpretation and processing. The derivation of information from a signal or message may be thought of as
9840-448: The formation and development of an organism without any need for a conscious mind. One might argue though that for a human to consciously define a pattern, for example a nucleotide, naturally involves conscious information processing. However, the existence of unicellular and multicellular organisms, with the complex biochemistry that leads, among other events, to the existence of enzymes and polynucleotides that interact maintaining
9960-473: The functioning of this essential core. Signal Signal refers to both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing , information theory and biology . In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as
10080-642: The graphic image of a cat sitting on a mat (picture 1), the delineation of abstract things from concrete things is somewhat ambiguous; this ambiguity or vagueness is characteristic of abstraction. Thus something as simple as a newspaper might be specified to six levels, as in Douglas Hofstadter 's illustration of that ambiguity, with a progression from abstract to concrete in Gödel, Escher, Bach (1979): An abstraction can thus encapsulate each of these levels of detail with no loss of generality . But perhaps
10200-400: The idea of "information catalysts", structures where emerging information promotes the transition from pattern recognition to goal-directed action (for example, the specific transformation of a substrate into a product by an enzyme, or auditory reception of words and the production of an oral response) The Danish Dictionary of Information Terms argues that information only provides an answer to
10320-579: The implementation of another's work, apart from the problem that it solves. Abstractions and levels of abstraction play an important role in the theory of general semantics originated by Alfred Korzybski . Anatol Rapoport wrote "Abstracting is a mechanism by which an infinite variety of experiences can be mapped on short noises (words)." Francis Fukuyama defines history as "a deliberate attempt of abstraction in which we separate out important from unimportant events". Researchers in linguistics frequently apply abstraction so as to allow an analysis of
10440-893: The irrecoverability of any information about the matter to have originally crossed the event horizon , violating both classical and quantum assertions against the ability to destroy information. The information cycle (addressed as a whole or in its distinct components) is of great concern to information technology , information systems , as well as information science . These fields deal with those processes and techniques pertaining to information capture (through sensors ) and generation (through computation , formulation or composition), processing (including encoding, encryption, compression, packaging), transmission (including all telecommunication methods), presentation (including visualization / display methods), storage (such as magnetic or optical, including holographic methods ), etc. Information visualization (shortened as InfoVis) depends on
10560-403: The issue of signs with the context within which signs are used. The focus of pragmatics is on the intentions of living agents underlying communicative behaviour. In other words, pragmatics link language to action. Semantics is concerned with the meaning of a message conveyed in a communicative act. Semantics considers the content of communication. Semantics is the study of the meaning of signs –
10680-427: The law of falling bodies. An abstraction can be seen as a compression process, mapping multiple different pieces of constituent data to a single piece of abstract data; based on similarities in the constituent data, for example, many different physical cats map to the abstraction "CAT". This conceptual scheme emphasizes the inherent equality of both constituent and abstract data, thus avoiding problems arising from
10800-409: The limitations of Shannon-Weaver information when attempting to characterize and measure subjective information. Information is any type of pattern that influences the formation or transformation of other patterns. In this sense, there is no need for a conscious mind to perceive, much less appreciate, the pattern. Consider, for example, DNA . The sequence of nucleotides is a pattern that influences
10920-577: The literal depiction of things from the visible world—it can, however, refer to an object or image which has been distilled from the real world, or indeed, another work of art. Artwork that reshapes the natural world for expressive purposes is called abstract; that which derives from, but does not imitate a recognizable subject is called nonobjective abstraction. In the 20th century the trend toward abstraction coincided with advances in science, technology, and changes in urban life, eventually reflecting an interest in psychoanalytic theory. Later still, abstraction
11040-477: The mathematical abstraction, the domain of a continuous-time signal is the set of real numbers (or some interval thereof), whereas the domain of a discrete-time (DT) signal is the set of integers (or other subsets of real numbers). What these integers represent depends on the nature of the signal; most often it is time. A continuous-time signal is any function which is defined at every time t in an interval, most commonly an infinite interval. A simple source for
11160-540: The mathematical representations between them known as systems, in four domains: time, frequency, s and z . Since signals and systems are both studied in these four domains, there are 8 major divisions of study. As an example, when working with continuous-time signals ( t ), one might transform from the time domain to a frequency or s domain; or from discrete time ( n ) to frequency or z domains. Systems also can be transformed between these domains like signals, with continuous to s and discrete to z . Signals and systems
11280-432: The mind makes particular ideas received from particular things become general; which it does by considering them as they are in the mind—mental appearances—separate from all other existences, and from the circumstances of real existence, such as time, place, and so on. This procedure is called abstraction. In it, an idea taken from a particular thing becomes a general representative of all of the same kind, and its name becomes
11400-531: The more deterministic discrete and continuous functions in the field. (Deterministic as used here means signals that are completely determined as functions of time). EE taxonomists are still not decided where signals and systems falls within the whole field of signal processing vs. circuit analysis and mathematical modeling, but the common link of the topics that are covered in the course of study has brightened boundaries with dozens of books, journals, etc. called "Signals and Systems", and used as text and test prep for
11520-408: The more general idea of a ball selects only the information on general ball attributes and behavior, excluding but not eliminating the other phenomenal and cognitive characteristics of that particular ball. In a type–token distinction , a type (e.g., a 'ball') is more abstract than its tokens (e.g., 'that leather soccer ball'). Abstraction in its secondary use is a material process , discussed in
11640-438: The multi-faceted concept of information in terms of signs and signal-sign systems. Signs themselves can be considered in terms of four inter-dependent levels, layers or branches of semiotics : pragmatics, semantics, syntax, and empirics. These four layers serve to connect the social world on the one hand with the physical or technical world on the other. Pragmatics is concerned with the purpose of communication. Pragmatics links
11760-590: The organization or to meet legal, fiscal or accountability requirements imposed on the organization. Willis expressed the view that sound management of business records and information delivered "...six key requirements for good corporate governance ...transparency; accountability; due process; compliance; meeting statutory and common law requirements; and security of personal and corporate information." Michael Buckland has classified "information" in terms of its uses: "information as process", "information as knowledge", and "information as thing". Beynon-Davies explains
11880-426: The particular redness of a particular apple is an abstract particular . This is similar to qualia and sumbebekos . Still retaining the primary meaning of ' abstrere ' or 'to draw away from', the abstraction of money, for example, works by drawing away from the particular value of things allowing completely incommensurate objects to be compared (see the section on 'Physicality' below). Karl Marx 's writing on
12000-503: The phenomena of language at the desired level of detail. A commonly used abstraction, the phoneme , abstracts speech sounds in such a way as to neglect details that cannot serve to differentiate meaning. Other analogous kinds of abstractions (sometimes called " emic units ") considered by linguists include morphemes , graphemes , and lexemes . Abstraction also arises in the relation between syntax , semantics , and pragmatics . Pragmatics involves considerations that make reference to
12120-422: The probability of occurrence. Information theory takes advantage of this by concluding that more uncertain events require more information to resolve their uncertainty. The bit is a typical unit of information . It is 'that which reduces uncertainty by half'. Other units such as the nat may be used. For example, the information encoded in one "fair" coin flip is log 2 (2/1) = 1 bit, and in two fair coin flips
12240-423: The rational, logical qualities ... Abstract feeling does the same with ... its feeling-values. ... I put abstract feelings on the same level as abstract thoughts. ... Abstract sensation would be aesthetic as opposed to sensuous sensation and abstract intuition would be symbolic as opposed to fantastic intuition . (Jung, [1921] (1971): par. 678). Social theorists deal with abstraction both as an ideational and as
12360-462: The release of plant chemicals to warn nearby plants of a predator, to sounds or motions made by animals to alert other animals of food. Signaling occurs in all organisms even at cellular levels, with cell signaling . Signaling theory , in evolutionary biology , proposes that a substantial driver for evolution is the ability of animals to communicate with each other by developing ways of signaling. In human engineering, signals are typically provided by
12480-486: The resolution of ambiguity or uncertainty that arises during the interpretation of patterns within the signal or message. Information may be structured as data . Redundant data can be compressed up to an optimal size, which is the theoretical limit of compression. The information available through a collection of data may be derived by analysis. For example, a restaurant collects data from every customer order. That information may be analyzed to produce knowledge that
12600-411: The sense of picture 1 , picture 2 , etc., shown below . It is not sufficient, however, to define abstract ideas as those that can be instantiated and to define abstraction as the movement in the opposite direction to instantiation. Doing so would make the concepts "cat" and "telephone" abstract ideas since despite their varying appearances, a particular cat or a particular telephone is an instance of
12720-424: The signal to convey pressure information. In an electrical signal, the voltage , current , or frequency of the signal may be varied to represent the information. Any information may be conveyed by an analog signal; often such a signal is a measured response to changes in physical phenomena, such as sound , light , temperature , position, or pressure . The physical variable is converted to an analog signal by
12840-502: The simultaneous influence of the other functions and other irrelevancies, such as emotion. Abstraction requires selective use of this structural split of abilities in the psyche. The opposite of abstraction is concretism . Abstraction is one of Jung's 57 definitions in Chapter XI of Psychological Types . There is an abstract thinking , just as there is abstract feeling , sensation and intuition . Abstract thinking singles out
12960-471: The specific context associated with this interpretation may cause the transformation of the information into knowledge . Complex definitions of both "information" and "knowledge" make such semantic and logical analysis difficult, but the condition of "transformation" is an important point in the study of information as it relates to knowledge, especially in the business discipline of knowledge management . In this practice, tools and processes are used to assist
13080-537: The strengths of signals, practical signals can be classified into two categories: energy signals and power signals. Energy signals: Those signals' energy are equal to a finite positive value, but their average powers are 0; 0 < E = ∫ − ∞ ∞ s 2 ( t ) d t < ∞ {\displaystyle 0<E=\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }s^{2}(t)dt<\infty } Power signals: Those signals' average power are equal to
13200-418: The study of the form rather than the content of signs and sign systems. Nielsen (2008) discusses the relationship between semiotics and information in relation to dictionaries. He introduces the concept of lexicographic information costs and refers to the effort a user of a dictionary must make to first find, and then understand data so that they can generate information. Communication normally exists within
13320-717: The success of the Voyager missions to deep space, the invention of the compact disc , the feasibility of mobile phones and the development of the Internet. The theory has also found applications in other areas, including statistical inference , cryptography , neurobiology , perception , linguistics, the evolution and function of molecular codes ( bioinformatics ), thermal physics , quantum computing , black holes , information retrieval , intelligence gathering , plagiarism detection , pattern recognition , anomaly detection and even art creation. Often information can be viewed as
13440-542: The synthesis of particular facts into one general theory about something. It is the opposite of specification , which is the analysis or breaking-down of a general idea or abstraction into concrete facts. Abstraction can be illustrated by Francis Bacon 's Novum Organum (1620), a book of modern scientific philosophy written in the late Jacobean era of England to encourage modern thinkers to collect specific facts before making any generalizations. Bacon used and promoted induction as an abstraction tool; it complemented but
13560-433: The system can be called information. In other words, it can be said that information in this sense is something potentially perceived as representation, though not created or presented for that purpose. For example, Gregory Bateson defines "information" as a "difference that makes a difference". If, however, the premise of "influence" implies that information has been perceived by a conscious mind and also interpreted by it,
13680-577: The total of which were the count of objects being transferred. The containers thus served as something of a bill of lading or an accounts book. In order to avoid breaking open the containers for the count, marks were placed on the outside of the containers. These physical marks, in other words, acted as material abstractions of a materially abstract process of accounting, using conceptual abstractions (numbers) to communicate its meaning. Abstract things are sometimes defined as those things that do not exist in reality or exist only as sensory experiences, like
13800-414: The transaction of business". The International Committee on Archives (ICA) Committee on electronic records defined a record as, "recorded information produced or received in the initiation, conduct or completion of an institutional or individual activity and that comprises content, context and structure sufficient to provide evidence of the activity". Records may be maintained to retain corporate memory of
13920-677: The user of the language; semantics considers expressions and what they denote (the designata ) abstracted from the language user; and syntax considers only the expressions themselves, abstracted from the designata. Abstraction in mathematics is the process of extracting the underlying structures, patterns or properties of a mathematical concept or object, removing any dependence on real-world objects with which it might originally have been connected, and generalizing it so that it has wider applications or matching among other abstract descriptions of equivalent phenomena. The advantages of abstraction in mathematics are: The main disadvantage of abstraction
14040-424: The verbal system has a greater engagement with abstract concepts when the perceptual system is more engaged in processing concrete concepts. This is because abstract concepts elicit greater brain activity in the inferior frontal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus compared to concrete concepts which elicit greater activity in the posterior cingulate, precuneus, fusiform gyrus, and parahippocampal gyrus. Other research into
14160-462: Was distinct from the ancient deductive -thinking approach that had dominated the intellectual world since the times of Greek philosophers like Thales , Anaximander , and Aristotle . Thales ( c. 624 –546 BCE) believed that everything in the universe comes from one main substance, water. He deduced or specified from a general idea, "everything is water," to the specific forms of water such as ice, snow, fog, and rivers. Modern scientists used
14280-590: Was manifest in more purely formal terms, such as color, freedom from objective context, and a reduction of form to basic geometric designs. Computer scientists use abstraction to make models that can be used and re-used without having to re-write all the program code for each new application on every different type of computer. They communicate their solutions with the computer by writing source code in some particular computer language which can be translated into machine code for different types of computers to execute. Abstraction allows program designers to separate
14400-440: Was the informational equivalent of 174 newspapers per person per day in 2007. The world's combined effective capacity to exchange information through two-way telecommunication networks was the informational equivalent of 6 newspapers per person per day in 2007. As of 2007, an estimated 90% of all new information is digital, mostly stored on hard drives. The total amount of data created, captured, copied, and consumed globally
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