Discrete may refer to:
*Discrete particle or
quantum
In physics, a quantum (: quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity (physical property) involved in an interaction. The fundamental notion that a property can be "quantized" is referred to as "the hypothesis of quantization". This me ...
in physics, for example in quantum theory
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Discrete device
An electronic component is any basic discrete electronic device or physical entity part of an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singular ...
, an electronic component with just one circuit element, either passive or active, other than an integrated circuit
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Discrete group
In mathematics, a topological group ''G'' is called a discrete group if there is no limit point in it (i.e., for each element in ''G'', there is a neighborhood which only contains that element). Equivalently, the group ''G'' is discrete if and ...
, a group with the discrete topology
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Discrete category
In mathematics, in the field of category theory, a discrete category is a category whose only morphisms are the identity morphisms:
:hom''C''(''X'', ''X'') = {id''X''} for all objects ''X''
:hom''C''(''X'', ''Y'') = ∅ for all objects ''X'' ≠ '' ...
, category whose only arrows are
identity arrows
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Discrete mathematics
Discrete mathematics is the study of mathematical structures that can be considered "discrete" (in a way analogous to discrete variables, having a bijection with the set of natural numbers) rather than "continuous" (analogously to continuous f ...
, the study of structures without continuity
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Discrete optimization
Discrete optimization is a branch of optimization in applied mathematics and computer science. As opposed to continuous optimization, some or all of the variables used in a discrete optimization problem are restricted to be discrete variables&mda ...
, a branch of optimization in applied mathematics and computer science
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Discrete probability distribution
In probability theory and statistics, a probability distribution is a function that gives the probabilities of occurrence of possible events for an experiment. It is a mathematical description of a random phenomenon in terms of its sample spa ...
, a random variable that can be counted
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Discrete space
In topology, a discrete space is a particularly simple example of a topological space or similar structure, one in which the points form a , meaning they are '' isolated'' from each other in a certain sense. The discrete topology is the finest to ...
, a simple example of a topological space
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Discrete spline interpolation, the discrete analog of ordinary spline interpolation
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Discrete time, non-continuous time, which results in discrete-time samples
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Discrete variable
In mathematics and statistics, a quantitative variable may be continuous or discrete. If it can take on two real values and all the values between them, the variable is continuous in that interval. If it can take on a value such that there i ...
, non-continuous variable
*Discrete
pitch, a pitch with a steady frequency, rather than an indiscrete gliding, glissando or portamento, pitch
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