Quantization is the process of constraining an input from a continuous or otherwise large set of values (such as the
real number
In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a continuous one- dimensional quantity such as a duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that pairs of values can have arbitrarily small differences. Every re ...
s) to a discrete set (such as the
integer
An integer is the number zero (0), a positive natural number (1, 2, 3, ...), or the negation of a positive natural number (−1, −2, −3, ...). The negations or additive inverses of the positive natural numbers are referred to as negative in ...
s). The term ''quantization'' may refer to:
Signal processing
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Quantization (signal processing)
Quantization, in mathematics and digital signal processing, is the process of mapping input values from a large set (often a continuous set) to output values in a (countable) smaller set, often with a finite number of elements. Rounding and tr ...
, in mathematics and digital signal processing
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Quantization (image processing)
Quantization, involved in image processing, is a lossy compression technique achieved by compressing a range of values to a single quantum (discrete) value. When the number of discrete symbols in a given stream is reduced, the stream becomes more ...
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Color quantization
In computer graphics, color quantization or color image quantization is quantization applied to color spaces; it is a process that reduces the number of distinct colors used in an image, usually with the intention that the new image should be as ...
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Vector quantization
Vector quantization (VQ) is a classical quantization technique from signal processing that allows the modeling of probability density functions by the distribution of prototype vectors. Developed in the early 1980s by Robert M. Gray, it was ori ...
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Quantization (music)
In digital music processing technology, quantization is the studio-software process of transforming performed musical notes, which may have some imprecision due to expressive performance, to an underlying musical representation that eliminates t ...
Physics
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Quantization (physics)
Quantization (in British English quantisation) is the systematic transition procedure from a classical understanding of physical phenomena to a newer understanding known as quantum mechanics. It is a procedure for constructing quantum mechan ...
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Canonical quantization
In physics, canonical quantization is a procedure for quantizing a classical theory, while attempting to preserve the formal structure, such as symmetries, of the classical theory to the greatest extent possible.
Historically, this was not quit ...
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Geometric quantization
In mathematical physics, geometric quantization is a mathematical approach to defining a quantum theory corresponding to a given classical theory. It attempts to carry out quantization, for which there is in general no exact recipe, in such a w ...
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Discrete spectrum
In the physical sciences, the term ''spectrum'' was introduced first into optics by Isaac Newton in the 17th century, referring to the range of colors observed when white light was dispersion (optics), dispersed through a prism (optics), prism. ...
, or otherwise discrete quantity
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Spatial quantization
In quantum mechanics, the angular momentum operator is one of several related operators analogous to classical angular momentum. The angular momentum operator plays a central role in the theory of atomic and molecular physics and other quantum prob ...
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Charge quantization
Linguistics
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Quantization (linguistics) In formal semantics, a predicate is quantized if it being true of an entity requires that it is ''not'' true of any proper subparts of that entity. For example, if something is an "apple", then no proper subpart of that thing is an "apple". If som ...
Similar terms
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Quantification (science)
In mathematics and empirical science, quantification (or quantitation) is the act of counting and measuring that maps human sense observations and experiences into quantity, quantities. Quantification in this sense is fundamental to the scientific ...
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