notation
notations
Use the noun notation to describe a written note, like the comments an English teacher makes in the margins of a student's essay.
An editor might make notations on an article, and a conductor might add notations — written reminders to herself — to the edges of a musical score. Another kind of notation is a series of symbols that represent words, numbers, or music, for example. Chemical formulas are one type of notation, and musical notes are another. Notation comes from the Latin word notationem, which means "a marking or an explanation," from the root nota, "mark."
Definitions of notation
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a comment or instruction (usually added)“he added a short notation to the address on the envelope”
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synonyms:
annotation, note
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types:
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poste restante
a notation written on mail that is to be held at the post office until called for (not in the United States or Canada)
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acknowledgment, citation, cite, credit, mention, quotation, reference
a short note recognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage
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footer, footnote
a printed note placed below the text on a printed page
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N.B., NB, nota bene
a Latin phrase (or its abbreviation) used to indicate that special attention should be paid to something
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PS, postscript
a note appended to a letter after the signature
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photo credit
a note acknowledging the source of a published photograph
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cross-index, cross-reference
a reference at one place in a work to information at another place in the same work
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type of:
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comment, commentary
a written explanation or criticism or illustration that is added to a book or other textual material
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a technical system of symbols used to represent special things
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synonyms:
notational system
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types:
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mathematical notation
a notation used by mathematicians
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musical notation
(music) notation used by musicians
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choreography
a notation used by choreographers
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chemical notation
a notation used by chemists to express technical facts in chemistry
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bar line
a vertical line before the accented beat marking the boundary between musical bars
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number representation system, number system, numeration system, system of numeration
any notation for the representation of numbers
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binary notation
any notation that uses 2 characters (usually 0 and 1)
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decimal notation
any notation that uses 10 different characters (usually the digits 0 to 9)
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octal notation
any mathematical notation that uses 8 different characters (usually the digits 0 to 7)
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duodecimal notation
any notation that uses 12 different characters
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hexadecimal notation, sexadecimal notation
any notation that uses 16 different characters
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sign
a character indicating a relation between quantities
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decimal point, percentage point, point
the dot at the left of a decimal fraction
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exponent, index, power
a mathematical notation indicating the number of times a quantity is multiplied by itself
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fixed-point notation, fixed-point representation system
a radix numeration system in which the location of the decimal point is fixed by convention
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floating-point notation, floating-point representation system
a radix numeration system in which the location of the decimal point is indicated by an exponent of the radix; in the floating-point representation system, 0.0012 is represented as 0.12-2 where -2 is the exponent
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infix notation
a notation for forming mathematical expressions using parentheses and governed by rules of operator precedence; operators are dispersed among the operands
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parenthesis-free notation
a notation for forming mathematical expressions that does not use parentheses to delimit components
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tablature
a musical notation indicating the fingering to be used
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Labanotation
a system of notation for dance movements that uses symbols to represent points on a dancer's body and the direction of the dancer's movement and the tempo and the dynamics
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musical scale, scale
(music) a series of notes differing in pitch according to a specific scheme (usually within an octave)
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interval, musical interval
the difference in pitch between two notes
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staff, stave
(music) the system of five horizontal lines on which the musical notes are written
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clef
a musical notation written on a staff indicating the pitch of the notes following it
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key signature, signature
the sharps or flats that follow the clef and indicate the key
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key, tonality
any of 24 major or minor diatonic scales that provide the tonal framework for a piece of music
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atonalism, atonality
the absence of a key; alternative to the diatonic system
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musical time signature, time signature
a musical notation indicating the number of beats to a measure and kind of note that takes a beat
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bar, measure
musical notation for a repeating pattern of musical beats
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rest
a musical notation indicating a silence of a specified duration
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musical note, note, tone
a notation representing the pitch and duration of a musical sound
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slur
(music) a curved line spanning notes that are to be played legato
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sharp
a musical notation indicating one half step higher than the note named
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flat
a musical notation indicating one half step lower than the note named
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cancel, natural
a notation cancelling a previous sharp or flat
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accidental
a musical notation that makes a note sharp or flat or natural although that is not part of the key signature
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fermata
a musical notation (over a note or chord or rest) that indicates it is to be prolonged by an unspecified amount
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solmisation, solmization
a system of naming the notes of a musical scale by syllables instead of letters
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segno
(music) a notation written at the beginning or end of a passage that is to be repeated
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sforzando
(music) a notation written above a note and indicating that it is to be played with a strong initial attack
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type of:
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writing
letters or symbols that are written or imprinted on a surface to represent the sounds or words of a language
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the activity of representing something by a special system of marks or characters
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type of:
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committal to writing, writing
the activity of putting something in written form
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committal to writing, writing
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘notation'.
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Vocabulary lists containing notation
Algebra, List 2
Review these terms and concepts related to algebra that may be tested on the Quantitative Reasoning section of the GRE test.
The SAT Math Test: Heart of Algebra, List 2
Review terms and concepts that are likely to appear on the SAT Math Test.
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
Science journalist Charles Seife discusses the history of the number zero, from its origin as an Eastern philosophical concept to its rise as an important tool in mathematics to its current threat to modern physics.
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