Analysis is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), though analysis as a formal concept is a relatively recent development.
The word is from the ancient Greek ἀνάλυσις (analusis, "a breaking up", from ana- "up, throughout" and lysis "a loosening").
As a formal concept, the method has variously been ascribed to Alhazen, René Descartes (Discourse on the Method) and Galileo Galilei. It has also been ascribed to Isaac Newton, in the form of a practical method of physical discovery (which he did not name or formally describe).
Other articles related to "analysis":
... Ged, while still a young man, is portrayed here as much wiser than in the first book ... When Tenar asks him about the scar on his face, caused by the Shadow creature that he unleashed, he replies that it is the result of his foolishness in the past - his ambition has been tempered with experience ...
... Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) – also Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) – "is a sub-discipline of geoinformation science devoted to (...) partitioning remote sensing (RS) imagery ... these application areas has spawned separate subfields of digital image analysis, with a large collection of specialized algorithms and concepts—and with their own journals, conferences, technical societies ...
... Aura analysis – a technique in which supporters of the method claim that the body's aura, or energy field is analyzed Bowling analysis – a notation summarizing a cricket bowler's performance ...
... The study and analysis of surfaces involves both physical and chemical analysis techniques ... polarization interferometry, and other surface analysis methods included in the list of materials analysis methods ... Modern physical analysis methods include scanning-tunneling microscopy (STM) and a family of methods descended from it ...
... The opening of Rhapsody in Blue is written as a clarinet trill followed by a legato 17-note rising diatonic scale ... During a rehearsal, Whiteman's virtuoso clarinetist, Ross Gorman, rendered the upper portion of the scale as a captivating (and fully trombone-like) glissando Gershwin heard it and insisted that it be repeated in the performance ...
Famous quotes containing the word analysis:
“Analysis as an instrument of enlightenment and civilization is good, in so far as it shatters absurd convictions, acts as a solvent upon natural prejudices, and undermines authority; good, in other words, in that it sets free, refines, humanizes, makes slaves ripe for freedom. But it is bad, very bad, in so far as it stands in the way of action, cannot shape the vital forces, maims life at its roots. Analysis can be a very unappetizing affair, as much so as death.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“Whatever else American thinkers do, they psychologize, often brilliantly. The trouble is that psychology only takes us so far. The new interest in families has its merits, but it will have done us all a disservice if it turns us away from public issues to private matters. A vision of things that has no room for the inner life is bankrupt, but a psychology without social analysis or politics is both powerless and very lonely.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“A commodity appears at first sight an extremely obvious, trivial thing. But its analysis brings out that it is a very strange thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)