Dictionary:

analysis

  (ə-năl'ĭ-sĭs)

1. 1. The separation of an intellectual or material whole into its constituent parts for individual study.
   2. The study of such constituent parts and their interrelationships in making up a whole.
   3. A spoken or written presentation of such study: published an analysis of poetic meter.
2. Chemistry.
   1. The separation of a substance into its constituent elements to determine either their nature (qualitative analysis) or their proportions (quantitative analysis).
   2. The stated findings of such a separation or determination.
3. Mathematics.
   1. A branch of mathematics principally involving differential and integral calculus, sequences, and series and concerned with limits and convergence.
   2. The method of proof in which a known truth is sought as a consequence of a series of deductions from that which is the thing to be proved.
4. Linguistics. The use of function words such as prepositions, pronouns, or auxiliary verbs instead of inflectional endings to express a grammatical relationship; for example, the cover of the dictionary instead of the dictionary's cover.
5. Psychoanalysis.
6. Systems analysis.

[Medieval Latin, from Greek analusis, a dissolving, from analūein, to undo : ana-, throughout; see ana– + lūein, to loosen.]

Examination and division of a business-related situation or problem into major elements in order to understand the item in question and make appropriate recommendations. An example is the evaluation of a product line in terms of pricing, quality, service, demand, and market share done by the marketing staff. The purpose of the effort is to identify problems so that marketing management can make better decisions to enhance profitability.

noun

1. The separation of a whole into its parts for study: anatomy, breakdown, dissection. See assemble/disassemble, investigate.
2. A close or systematic study: examination, inspection, investigation, review, survey. See investigate.

Definition: dissection
Antonyms: synthesis

A separation into component parts.

That part of the study of music which takes the music itself, rather than any external factor, as its starting-point. It normally involves the resolution of a musical structure into relatively simpler constituent elements and the investigation of the roles of those elements in the structure. There are many different types and methods of analysis, including by fundamental structure (Schenker), by theme, by form (Tovey), by phrase-structure (Riemann) and by information-theory.

Chemistry

Math

For more information on analysis, visit Britannica.com.

The process of breaking a concept down into more simple parts, so that its logical structure is displayed. At its most elementary this may be revealed by a dictionary definition (‘to be a vixen is to be a female fox’). But analytic philosophy, as practised by Russell, the early Wittgenstein, and Moore, took the successes of logic at the beginning of the 20th century to open the way to a general programme, in which the meaning or truth conditions of propositions would be displayed by a process that revealed hidden logical structure beneath the surface form of statements (see logical atomism, logical form). Philosophical analysis would provide a scientific, objective approach to traditional problems. Just as a mathematician can provide a definition of a complex notion, revealing its identity in terms of a sequence of simpler operations, so the philosopher should be able to identify the nature of a complex concept in terms of simple constituent ideas and operations. The programme of analysis reached its zenith with the early work of the logical positivists, and especially Carnap, although it influenced almost all Anglo-American philosophy for the first half of the 20th century, and much of it beyond that.

Although the ideal of analysis had a profoundly healthy effect on philosophy, by insisting on rigorous attention to meaning at all stages of philosophizing, the original confidence in the method proved over-optimistic. First, it turns out that remarkably few interesting concepts admit of uncontroversial analyses. Secondly, it is plausible that there is good reason for this, in that concepts gain their identity not so much through internal structure, as through their place in a larger theory or network of doctrines and practices with which they are associated (see holism). Thirdly, apart from empiricist or atomistic doctrine, there is no principled way of determining where a process of analysis ought to stop, or even, perhaps, determining in which direction it ought to set out. Finally, the test for a successful analysis, namely the display of a complex structure that is actually synonymous with the original concept, is uncertain in its application, and rather than being an objective arbiter of philosophical doctrine, will be contested in the light of such doctrines.

An explanation of a process or phenomenon in terms of its component parts. Analysis of chemicals, such as drugs, involves breaking down the substance in order to determine the type of constituents (qualitative analysis) or the amount of each constituent (quantitative analysis).

Separation into component parts.

• cohort a. — the separation of each of two cohorts into component parts and comparing the results.
• current a. — analysis performed on contemporary data.
• discriminant a. — a form of multivariate analysis in which the objective is to establish a discriminate function. The function (typically a mathematical formula) discriminates between individuals in the population and allocates each of them to a group within the population. The function is established on the basis of a series of measurements or observations made on the individuals.
• economic a. — evaluation of the costs and benefits of a commercial enterprise that takes into account additional returns, returns no longer obtained, additional costs and costs no longer incurred, discounting of gains back to the time when the project began, and opportunity costs relating to potential profitability from alternative use of the investment.
• factor a. — a multivariate technique which analyzes the underlying structure of a set of data. It is useful in explaining observed relationships amongst a large number of variables in terms of simpler relations.
• guaranteed a. — declares the range within which nutrients occur in a manufactured animal food.
• multivariate a. — techniques for the study of simultaneous variation in a number of variables. Includes linear discriminant functions, cluster analysis and factor and principal component analysis.
• path a. — a statistical technique for testing a limited number of causal hypotheses, the causal relationships between variables, by manipulation of one or more of the variables and predicting the outcome.
• qualitative a. — determination of the nature of the constituents of a compound or mixture.
• quantitative a. — determination of the proportionate quantities of the constituents of a compound or mixture.
• regression a. — a general statistical technique that analyzes the relationship between a dependent (criterion) variable and a set of independent (predictor) variables.
• systems a. — analysis of the interaction of a system, e.g. a biological system, often for the purpose of analyzing the differences between systems. See also system.
• a. of variance — a statistical method for comparing variables by partitioning the variance of the observations between the effects of the different variables and comparing it with the underlying random variation.
• vector a. — analysis of a moving force to determine both its magnitude and its direction, e.g. analysis of the scalar electrocardiogram to determine the magnitude and direction of the electromotive force for one complete cycle of the heart.

The study of the form and structure of music.

Tutor's tip: You can improve yourself by making an "analysis" of facts, but it takes special training to know how to perform "analyses" on numbers or people.

Quotes:

"Happiness never lays its finger on its pulse." - Adam Smith

"He suffered from paralysis by analysis." - Saying

"Think as you work, for in the final analysis, your worth to your company comes not only in solving problems, but also in anticipating them." - Harold Wallace Ross

"The unlived life is not worth examining." - Tom Morris

"When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, I'd place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: LEAVE SLIDE RULES HERE! If I didn't do that, I'd find some engineer reaching for his slide rule. Then he'd be on his feet saying, Boss you can't do that." - Charles F. Kettering

"Psychoanalysis is confession without absolution." - Gilbert K. Chesterton

See more famous quotes about Analysis

See also: Analytic

Analysis means literally to break a complex problem down into smaller, more manageable "independent" parts for the purposes of examination — with the hope that solving these smaller parts will lead to a solution of the more complex problem as well. Although taken for granted as a method of advancing understanding today, this is a relatively recent and important invention of humankind; however, it should be noted that roughly parallel concepts within mathematics and logic go back beyond Aristotle. It has been variously ascribed to Descartes (from his "Discourse on Method"), Galileo and Newton as a practical method of physical discovery, and was quite surprising to their contemporaries.

Analysis may refer to:

Chemistry

• Analytical chemistry, to examine material samples to gain an understanding of their chemical composition
• Isotope analysis, the identification of isotopic signature, the distribution of certain stable isotopes and chemical elements within chemical compounds
• Neutron activation analysis, a technique used to very accurately determine the concentrations of elements in a sample

Computer science

• Analysis of algorithms
• Competitive analysis (online algorithm), shows how online algorithms perform and demonstrates the power of randomization in algorithms
• Worst-case execution time, determines the longest time that a piece of software can take to run
• Program analysis (computer science), the process of automatically analysing the behavior of computer programs
• Static code analysis, the analysis of computer software that is performed without actually executing programs built from that software
• Syntax analysis, a process in compilers that recognizes the structure of programming languages, also known as parsing
• Semantic analysis (computer science), a pass by a compiler that adds semantical information to the parse tree and performs certain checks
• Lexical analysis, the process of processing an input sequence of characters and producing as output a sequence of symbols
• Object-oriented analysis and design, à la Booch
• Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology, à la Yourdon

Cryptography

• Cryptanalysis, the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information
• Frequency analysis, a method to decompose a function, wave, or signal into its frequency components

Economics

• Financial analysis, the analysis of the accounts and the economic prospects of a firm
• Fundamental analysis, a stock valuation method that uses financial analysis
• Principal components analysis, a technique that can be used to simplify a dataset
• Technical analysis, the study of price action in securities markets in order to forecast future prices
• Price Analysis, involves the breakdown of a price to a unit figure
• Market analysis, consists of suppliers and customers, and price is determined by the interaction of supply and demand

Engineering

• Analysis of resistive circuits, deals with electronic circuits containing only resistive elements
• Dimensional analysis, a conceptual tool to understand physical situations involving a mix of different kinds of physical quantities
• Accident Analysis, a branch of systems analysis dealing with the analysis of failure
• Life cycle cost analysis, calculates the cost of a system or product over its entire life span
• Structural analysis, an area of civil and structural engineering in which the deformations, deflections, internal forces and stresses of structures are analysed
• System analysis, the branch of electrical engineering that characterizes electrical systems and their properties
• Systems analysis, the science dealing with analysis of complex, large scale systems and the interactions within those systems
• Engineering analysis, the application of scientific analytic principles and processes to reveal the properties and state of the system.

Linguistics

• Discourse analysis, a general term for the analysis of language use above the sentence or clause level
• Semantic analysis (linguistics), the process of unpacking clause, sentence and paragraph structure
• Voice analysis, the study of speech sounds for purposes other than linguistic content
• Conversation analysis, the study of talk in interaction

Literary criticism

• Analysis (Homer), an influential school of thought in Homeric scholarship in the 19th-20th centuries
• Psychocriticism, Charles Mauron's method based on Freud's own initial interpretations of literary works such as Hamlet

Mathematics

• Mathematical analysis, the generic name given to any branch of mathematics that depends upon the concepts of limits and convergence
• Complex analysis
• Functional analysis
• Harmonic analysis
• Non-standard analysis
• Numerical analysis, the study of algorithms for the problems of continuous mathematics
• Real analysis
• Constructivist analysis

Music

• Musical analysis, a process attempting to answer the question "How does this music work?"
• Schenkerian analysis

Philosophy

• Philosophical analysis, a general term for the techniques used by philosophers
• Analysis is the name of a prominent journal in philosophy.

Psychotherapy

• Psychoanalysis, seeks to elucidate connections among unconscious components of patients' mental processes
• Transactional analysis

Signal processing

• Finite element analysis, a computer simulation technique used in engineering analysis
• Independent component analysis
• Link quality analysis, the analysis of signal quality
• Path quality analysis

Statistics

• Analysis of variance (ANOVA), a collection of statistical models and their associated procedures which compare means by splitting the overall observed variance into different parts
• Meta-analysis, combines the results of several studies that address a set of related research hypotheses
• Time-series analysis, methods that attempt to understand a sequence of data points spaced apart at uniform time intervals

May also refer to

• Aura analysis, a technique in which supporters of the method claim that the body's aura, or energy field is analysed
• Bowling analysis, a notation summarizing a cricket bowler's performance
• Lithic analysis, the analysis of stone tools using basic scientific techniques
• Protocol analysis, a means for extracting persons' thoughts while they are performing a task

See also

• List of thinking-related topics
• Synthesis
• Scientific method

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - analyse, bearbejdelse af analyseresultater

Nederlands (Dutch)
(psycho)analyse, statistieken (sport), uitslag van analyse

Français (French)
n. - analyse, (Ling) analyse logique, (fig) (en dernière) analyse

Deutsch (German)
n. - Analyse, Zergliederung, Untersuchung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ανάλυση, αναλυτική έκθεση, ψυχανάλυση

Italiano (Italian)
analisi, psicoanalisi

idioms:

• in the final analysis    in ultima analisi

Português (Portuguese)
n. - análise (f), decomposição (f), exame (m), diagnose (f) e tratamento (m) subseqüente883 (Psicol.), resultado (m)

idioms:

• in the final analysis    na análise final, no fim das contas

Русский (Russian)
анализ

idioms:

• in the final analysis    в конце концов

Español (Spanish)
n. - análisis, psicoanálisis

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - analys, undersökning

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
分析, 解析, 分解, 精神分析

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 分析, 解析, 分解, 精神分析

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 분석 , 해부

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 分析, 分解, 分析結果, 精神分析

idioms:

• systems analysis    システム分析

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) تحليل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮ניתוח, ניתוח-נפש, בדיקה, אנליזה, פסיכואנליזה‬

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