Scale Factor (computer Science)
A scale factor is used in computer science when a real world set of numbers needs to be represented on a different scale in order to fit a specific number format. For instance, a 16 bit unsigned integer (uint16) can only hold a value as large as 65,53510. If uint16's are to be used to represent values from 0 to 131,07010, then a scale factor of 1/2 would be introduced. Notice that while the scale factor extends the range, it also decreases the precision. In this example, for instance, the number 3 could not be represented because a stored 1 represents a real world 2, and a stored 2 represents a real world 4.
Read more about Scale Factor (computer Science): Uses, Operations On Scaled Values, Picking A Scale Factor
Famous quotes containing the words scale and/or factor:
“I have spent all my life under a Communist regime, and I will tell you that a society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed. But a society with no other scale but the legal one is not quite worthy of man either.”
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918)
“Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things, that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. Military and economic power is necessarily wielded by people.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)