[syn: parity, conservation of parity, space-reflection symmetry, mirror symmetry]
5. functional equality;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Parity \Par"i*ty\, n. [L. paritas, fr. par, paris, equal: cf. F.
parit['e]. See Pair, Peer an equal.]
1. The quality or condition of being equal or equivalent; a
like state or degree; equality; equivalence; close
correspondence; analogy; as, parity of reasoning. "No
parity of principle." --De Quincey.
[1913 Webster]
Equality of length and parity of numeration. --Sir
T. Browne.
[1913 Webster]
2. Specifically: (Finance) Equivalence in value to the
currency of another country.
[PJC]
3. (Physics) A property assigned to elementary particles,
conceptualized as a form of symmetry, representing the
fact that no fundamental distinctions can be observed
between right-handed and left-handed systems of particles
in their interactions, and supported by the typical
observation that the total parity of a system is unchanged
as particles are created or annihilated; however, certain
interactions involving the weak force have been shown to
violate the principle of conservation of parity.
[PJC]
4. (Physics) A property of the wave function of a system,
which takes the value of +1 or -1, indicating whether the
value of the wave function changes sign if each of the
variables of the system is replaced by its negative.
[PJC]
5. (Med.) The condition of having borne a child or children,
alive or dead.
[PJC]
6. (Math.) The property of being even or odd; as, 3 has odd
parity, but 6 has even parity.
[PJC]
7. Hence: (Computers) The property of having an even or odd
number of bits set to the value of 1 (as opposed to 0); --
applied to bytes or larger groups of bits in a data
structure. It is used mostly in the process of parity
checking. The parity of a data structure can be changed
by changing the value of the parity bit.
[PJC]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
parity
n 1: (obstetrics) the number of liveborn children a woman has
delivered; "the parity of the mother must be considered";
"a bipara is a woman who has given birth to two children"
[syn: parity, para]
2: (mathematics) a relation between a pair of integers: if both
integers are odd or both are even they have the same parity;
if one is odd and the other is even they have different
parity; "parity is often used to check the integrity of
transmitted data"
3: (computer science) a bit that is used in an error detection
procedure in which a 0 or 1 is added to each group of bits so
that it will have either an odd number of 1's or an even
number of 1's; e.g., if the parity is odd then any group of
bits that arrives with an even number of 1's must contain an
error [syn: parity bit, parity, check bit]
4: (physics) parity is conserved in a universe in which the laws
of physics are the same in a right-handed system of
coordinates as in a left-handed system [syn: parity,
conservation of parity, space-reflection symmetry,
mirror symmetry]
5: functional equality
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
85 Moby Thesaurus words for "parity":
accordance, agreement, alikeness, alliance, analogy, aping,
approach, approximation, asking price, assimilation, balance,
bearish prices, bid price, book value, bullish prices, call price,
closeness, closing price, coequality, coextension, community,
comparability, comparison, conformity, congruence, congruity,
consistency, copying, correspondence, decline, equality, equation,
equilibrium, equipoise, equipollence, equiponderance, equity,
equivalence, equivalency, evenness, face value, fixed price,
flash price, flurry, flutter, high, identity, imitation, issue par,
issue price, justice, levelness, likeness, likening, low,
market price, market value, metaphor, mimicking, nearness,
nominal value, offering price, opening price, par, par value,
parallelism, poise, price, proportion, put price, quotation,
quoted price, rally, resemblance, sameness, semblance,
settling price, similarity, simile, similitude, simulation,
stated value, swings, symmetry, uniformity
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
parity
non parity
An extra bit added to a byte or
word to reveal errors in storage (in RAM or disk) or
transmission. Even (odd) parity means that the parity bit is
set so that there are an even (odd) number of one bits in the
word, including the parity bit. A single parity bit can only
reveal single bit errors since if an even number of bits are
wrong then the parity bit will not change. Moreover, it is
not possible to tell which bit is wrong, as it is with more
sophisticated error detection and correction systems.
See also longitudinal parity, checksum, cyclic redundancy
check.
(1996-03-01)