GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English
last match results
Found one definition
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Parity (?), n. [L. paritas, fr. par, paris, equal: cf. F. parité. 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]