A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to:

Mathematics

Point (geometry) In geometry, a point is an abstract idealization of an exact position, without size, in physical space, or its generalization to other kinds of mathematical spaces. As zero-dimensional objects, points are usually taken to be the fundamenta ...

, an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract

topological space In mathematics, a topological space is, roughly speaking, a Geometry, geometrical space in which Closeness (mathematics), closeness is defined but cannot necessarily be measured by a numeric Distance (mathematics), distance. More specifically, a to ...

* Point, or

Element (category theory) In category theory, the concept of an element, or a point, generalizes the more usual set theoretic concept of an element of a set to an object of any category. This idea often allows restating of definitions or properties of morphisms (such ...

, generalizes the set-theoretic concept of an element of a set to an object of any category *

Critical point (mathematics) In mathematics, a critical point is the argument of a function where the function derivative is zero (or undefined, as specified below). The value of the function at a critical point is a . More specifically, when dealing with functions of a ...

, a stationary point of a function of an arbitrary number of variables *

Decimal point FIle:Decimal separators.svg, alt=Four types of separating decimals: a) 1,234.56. b) 1.234,56. c) 1'234,56. d) ١٬٢٣٤٫٥٦., Both a comma and a full stop (or period) are generally accepted decimal separators for international use. The apost ...

* Point-free geometry *

Stationary point In mathematics, particularly in calculus, a stationary point of a differentiable function of one variable is a point on the graph of a function, graph of the function where the function's derivative is zero. Informally, it is a point where the ...

, a point in the domain of a single-valued function where the value of the function ceases to change

Places

* Point, Cornwall, England, a settlement in Feock parish *

Point, Lewis Point (), also known as the Eye Peninsula, is a peninsula some 11 km long in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The majority of Point is connected to the rest of the Isle of Lewis by a narrow isthmus, one mile in length and at one point barely 1 ...

, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Points, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States

Business and finance

* Point (loyalty program), a type of virtual currency in common use among mercantile loyalty programs, globally *

Point (mortgage) Discount points, also called mortgage points or simply points, are a form of pre-paid interest available in the United States when arranging a mortgage. One point equals one percent of the loan amount. By charging a borrower points, a lender effe ...

, a percentage sometimes referred to as a form of pre-paid interest used to reduce interest rates in a mortgage loan *

Basis point A basis point (often abbreviated as bp, often pronounced as "bip" or "beep") is one hundredth of 1 percentage point. Changes of interest rates are often stated in basis points. For example, if an existing interest rate of 10 percent is increased ...

, 1/100 of one percent, denoted ''bp'', ''bps'', and ''‱'' *

Percentage point A percentage point or percent point is the unit (measurement), unit for the difference (mathematics), arithmetic difference between two percentages. For example, moving up from 40 percent to 44 percent is an increase of 4 percentage points (altho ...

s, used to measure a change in percentage absolutely *

Pivot point (technical analysis) In financial markets, a pivot point is a price level that is used by Trader (finance), traders as a possible indicator of market movement. A pivot point is calculated as an average of significant prices (high, low, close) from the performance of ...

, a price level of significance in analysis of a financial market that is used as a predictive indicator of market movement * "Points", the term for

profit sharing Profit sharing refers to various incentive plans introduced by businesses which provide direct or indirect payments to employees, often depending on the company's profitability, employees' regular salaries, and bonuses. In publicly traded compa ...

in the American film industry, where creatives involved in making the film get a defined percentage of the net profits or even gross receipts * Royalty points, a way of sharing profit between companies and unit holders *

Vigorish Vigorish (also called the cut, the house edge, juice, the margin, the take, under-juice, or the vig) is the fee charged by a bookmaker for accepting a gambler's wager. In American English, it can also refer to the interest owed a loanshark in con ...

point, the commission charged on a gambling bet or loanshark's loan

Measurement units

* Point (gemstone), 2 milligrams, or one hundredth of a carat * Point, in hunting, the number of

antler Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) Family (biology), family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally fo ...

tips on the hunted animal (e.g. 9 point buck) * Point, for describing paper-stock thickness, a synonym of ''mil'' and ''

thou The word ''thou'' () is a second-person singular pronoun in English. It is now largely archaic, having been replaced in most contexts by the word '' you'', although it remains in use in parts of Northern England and in Scots (). ''Thou' ...

'' (one thousandth of an inch) * Point, a hundredth of an

inch The inch (symbol: in or prime (symbol), ) is a Units of measurement, unit of length in the imperial units, British Imperial and the United States customary units, United States customary System of measurement, systems of measurement. It is eq ...

or 0.254 mm, a unit of measurement formerly used for rainfall in Australia *

Paris point The Paris point is a unit of length defined as . It is commonly used for shoe sizes in Continental Europe. The unit was invented by French shoemakers in the early 1800s. Its origin probably lies in centimetre being very close to inch; a French ...

, 2/3 cm, used for shoe sizes *

Points of the compass The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

, one of the 32 directions on a traditional compass, equal to one eighth of a right angle (11.25 degrees)

In typography

* Point, a unit of measurement used in printing *A dot

grapheme In linguistics, a grapheme is the smallest functional unit of a writing system. The word ''grapheme'' is derived from Ancient Greek ('write'), and the suffix ''-eme'' by analogy with ''phoneme'' and other emic units. The study of graphemes ...

Full point The full stop ( Commonwealth English), period (North American English), or full point is a punctuation mark used for several purposes, most often to mark the end of a declarative sentence (as distinguished from a question or exclamation). A ...

Interpoint An interpunct , also known as an interpoint, middle dot, middot, centered dot or centred dot, is a punctuation mark consisting of a vertically centered dot used for interword separation in Classical Latin. (space (punctuation), Word-separating ...

, the mark used to separate an integer from a decimal part

Sports

* Point (American football) *

Point (basketball) Points in basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball ( ...

Point (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a player is credited with one point for either a goal or an assist. The total number of goals plus assists equals total points. In the National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ...

* Point (pickleball) *

Point (tennis) A point in tennis is the smallest subdivision of the match. A point can consist of a double fault by the server, in which case the point is automatically won by the receiver. In all other cases, a point begins when a legal serve is hit by the serv ...

* Point,

fielding (cricket) Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the striking batter, to limit the number of runs that the striker scores and/or to get a batter out by either catching a hit ball befo ...

* Point, in sports

Score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

Point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

, in basketball *

Points (association football) Three points for a win is a standard used in many sports leagues and tournament#Group tournaments, group tournaments, especially in association football, in which 3 points are awarded to the team winning a match, with no points awarded to the losi ...

Points decision A points decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking. Unlike normal decisions where there are three judges who agree on which ...

, in boxing and some other fighting sports *

The point (ice hockey) The point is a term in ice hockey to indicate a position inside the opposition's blue line along the edges of the rink. Description A player in the opponent's end zone at the junction of the blue line with the boards is said to be at the point. ...

, the location of an ice hockey player

Technology and transport

* Point, a data element in a

SCADA SCADA (an acronym for supervisory control and data acquisition) is a control system architecture comprising computers, networked data communications and graphical user interfaces for high-level supervision of machines and processes. It also cove ...

system representing a single input or output * Points, a

contact breaker A contact breaker (or "points") is a type of electrical switch, found in the ignition systems of spark-ignition internal combustion engines. The switch is automatically operated by a cam driven by the engine. The timing of operation of the switch ...

in an ignition system * Points, a

railroad switch A railroad switch (American English, AE), turnout, or (set of) points (Commonwealth English, CE) is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one Rail tracks, track to another, such as at a Junction (rail), ...

(British English) * Points, the

clock position A clock position, or clock bearing, is the direction of an object observed from a vehicle, typically a vessel or an aircraft, relative to the orientation of the vehicle to the observer. The vehicle must be considered to have a front, a back, a l ...

of an object seen from a moving vessel or aircraft on an imaginary horizontal clock with 12:00 at the front; e.g., two points to starboard is 2:00 *

Points of sail A point of sail is a sailing craft's Course (navigation), direction of travel under sail in relation to the true wind direction over the surface. The principal points of sail roughly correspond to 45° segments of a circle, starting with 0° dir ...

, a sailing boat's course in relation to wind direction *

Point system (driving) A penalty point or demerit point system revokes or suspends a person's driving license based on the number of points accumulated over a specific period. Points are assigned for traffic offenses and infringements committed during this time. The de ...

, a system of demerits for driving offenses *

Projectile point In archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have been kept in the ...

, a hafted archaeological artifact used as a knife or projectile tip *

Public Oregon Intercity Transit The POINT Intercity Bus Service is a four-route, intercity bus service sponsored by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). The service is administered by ODOT's Public Transportation Division as part of its intercity grant program. The P ...

, styled POINT, a public transit system

Arts, entertainment, and media

Music

* ''Point'' (Cornelius album), a 2001 album by Cornelius * ''Point #1'', a 1999 album of Chevelle * Point Music, a record label * ''Points'' (album), by jazz pianist Matthew Shipp * " The Points", a 1995 single and video from the ''Panther'' soundtrack * ''Point'' (Yello album), a 2020 album by Yello * "Point", a song by the American band Bright from their self-titled album

Other uses in arts, entertainment, and media

High card points In contract bridge, various bidding systems have been devised to enable partners to describe their hands so that they may reach the optimum contract. Key to this process is that players evaluate and re-evaluate the trick-taking potential of thei ...

, used for hand evaluation in contract bridge * ''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and conservative news magazine published in Paris. It is one of the three major French news magazines. ''Le Point'' was founded in 1972 by former journalists of ''L'Express'' and quickly rose to be ...

'', a French weekly * ''

On Point ''On Point'' is a radio show produced by WBUR-FM in Boston, Massachusetts, and syndicated by American Public Media (APM). The show addresses a wide range of issues from news, politics, arts and culture, health, technology, environmental, and bu ...

'', a radio show *

Point Broadcasting Point Broadcasting LLC is an American radio broadcasting company based in Ventura, California. The company is the owner of several radio groups in Southern California, doing business as Gold Coast Broadcasting LLC in the Oxnard—Ventura radio ma ...

, a radio broadcasting company *

Pointe technique Pointe technique ( ) is part of classical ballet involving a technique that concerns ''pointe work'', in which a ballet dancer supports all body weight on the tips of fully extended feet when wearing pointe shoes. A dancer is said to be ''en po ...

, a ballet technique for dancing on the tips of toes * ''

Take Point To take point, walk point, be on point, or be a point man is to assume the first and most exposed position in a combat military formation, that is, the leading soldier or unit advancing through hostile or unsecured territory. The term can be a ...

'' (2018), a South Korean action film

Other uses

* Point (coat color), animal fur coloration of the extremities *

Point (geography) A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...

, a peninsula or headland * Point (surname), a surname * Make a point or come to a point, a hunting term referring to a

pointing dog Pointing dogs, sometimes called bird dogs, are a type of gundog typically used in finding game. Gundogs are traditionally divided into three classes: retrievers, flushing dogs, and pointing breeds. The name ''pointer'' comes from the dog's inst ...

's standing rigid and facing the prey *

On point ''On Point'' is a radio show produced by WBUR-FM in Boston, Massachusetts, and syndicated by American Public Media (APM). The show addresses a wide range of issues from news, politics, arts and culture, health, technology, environmental, and bu ...

, someone who possesses abundant and various qualities of competence, leadership or style, or to specific acts which demonstrate such qualities * Point man, one who takes point (defined below) on patrol, the

lookout A lookout or look-out is a person in charge of the observation of hazards. The term originally comes from a naval background, where lookouts would watch for other ships, land, and various dangers. The term has now passed into wider parlance. ...

in the commission of a crime, a defense position in ice hockey, or someone who leads the defense of a political position *

Point mutation A point mutation is a genetic mutation where a single nucleotide base is changed, inserted or deleted from a DNA or RNA sequence of an organism's genome. Point mutations have a variety of effects on the downstream protein product—consequences ...

, a change in a single nucleotide *

Take point To take point, walk point, be on point, or be a point man is to assume the first and most exposed position in a combat military formation, that is, the leading soldier or unit advancing through hostile or unsecured territory. The term can be a ...

(or walk point, be on point, or be a point man), to be the lead, and likely most vulnerable, soldier, vehicle, or unit in a combat military formation * Point University, West Point, Georgia