See also: Mathematics | Specification
A measure is a determination of a specific quantity of something. When a count is taken it is then possible to know if something is true, valid or equal when compared to another.
Measuring or having knowledge of the specification of an object’s features is useful information for a mathematical analysis. Comparisions over time provide knowledge of performance which can be compared to current and future status.
The scalability of a network is a measure of how a network performs as the number of users increases – see traffic analysis for more information. Measurement may require surveillance or data collection. When measurements can’t taken, eg, because of a lack of data, it is sometimes useful to make estimates or best approximations. Radical shapes have a fractal dimension.
Examples
- age, weight, height and other personal identifiable information
- compliance with standards
- optimization, reliability and other progress indicators
- audits, polls, statistics and surveys
- uptime and downtime
- web sites that have a visitor counter
- network throughput
According to Rishab Aiyer Ghosh (http://subsol.c3.hu/subsol-2/contributors2/ghoshbio.html), author of Free/Libre/Open Source Software: Economics, Measurement and Software Engineering, “measurement involves identification, tracking and collation.”
A survey of wealth, can be determind from broad indicators such as the gross national product, but these kinds of social measures lack integrity.
Related Link
- A Dictionary of Units of Measurement (http://www.unc.edu/%7Erowlett/units/)
Related Topics
TakeDown.NET -> “Measure”