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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, though analysis as a formal concept is a relatively recent development.[1]
The word is a transcription of the ancient Greek ἀνάλυσις (analusis), "a breaking up" (from ana- "up, throughout" and lysis "a loosening").[2]
As a formal concept, the method has variously been ascribed to Ibn al-Haytham,[3] 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).
The field of chemistry uses analysis to break down chemical processes and examine chemical reactions between elements of matter. For example, analysis of the concentration of elements is important in managing a nuclear reactor, so nuclear scientists will analyze neutron activation to develop discrete measurements within vast samples. A matrix can have a considerable effect on the way a chemical analysis is conducted and the quality of its results. Analysis can be done manually or with a device. Chemical analysis is an important element of national security among the major world powers with Materials Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) capabilities.
Chemists can use isotopes to assist analysts with issues in anthropology, archeology, food chemistry, forensics, geology, and a host of other questions of physical science. Analysts can discern the origins of natural and man-made isotopes in the study of environmental radioactivity.
Analysts in the field of engineering look at structures, mechanisms, systems and dimensions. Electrical engineers analysis of systems in electronics. Life cycles and system failures are broken down and studied by engineers. It is also looking at different factors encorporated within the design
The field of intelligence employs analysts to break down and understand a wide array of questions. Intelligence agencies may use heuristics, inductive and deductive reasoning, social network analysis, dynamic network analysis, link analysis, and brainstorming to sort through problems they face. Military intelligence may explore issues through the use of game theory, Red Teaming, and wargaming. Signals intelligence applies cryptanalysis and frequency analysis to break codes and ciphers. Business intelligence applies theories of competitive intelligence analysis and competitor analysis to resolve questions in the marketplace. Law enforcement intelligence applies a number of theories in crime analysis.
Linguistics began with the analysis of Sanskrit and Tamil; today it looks at individual languages and language in general. It breaks language down and analyses its component parts: theory, sounds and their meaning, utterance usage, word origins, the history of words, the meaning of words and word combinations, sentence construction, basic construction beyond the sentence level, stylistics, and conversation. It examines the above using statistics and modeling, and semantics. It analyses language in context of anthropology, biology, evolution, geography, history, neurology, psychology, and sociology. It also takes the applied approach, looking at individual language development and clinical issues.
Literary theory is the analysis of literature. Some say that literary criticism is a subset of literary theory. The focus can be as diverse as the analysis of Homer or Freud. This is mainly to do with the breaking up of a topic to make it easier to understand.
Mathematical analysis can be applied in the study of classical concepts of real numbers, such as the complex variables, trigonometric functions, and algorithms, or of non-classical concepts like constructivism, harmonics, infinity, and vectors.
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Analysis f. (genitive Analysis, no plural)
Analysis (ana="up" or "back", and lyein, "to loose") means a separation; it is the taking apart of that which was united, and corresponds exactly to the Latin form "resolution" (re + solvere). Its opposite is synthesis (syn, "together", and tithenai, "to put", hence, a "putting-together", a "composition"). According to this etymology, analysis, in general, is the process by which anything complex is resolved into simple, or, at least, into less complex parts or elements. This complex may be:
(1) In the case of a concrete object, we must distinguish three
degrees of analysis. Sometimes a real separation or isolation is
effected. To resolve a chemical compound into its elements, or
white light into the elementary colours, to dissect an organism, to
take a machine to pieces, is to proceed analytically. But
frequently actual isolation is impossible. Thus the factors of a
movement or of a psychological process cannot be set apart and
studied separately. If the process occurs at all, it must be a
complex one. We may, however, reach an analytical result by means
of different successive syntheses, i. e. by variations in the
grouping of the elements or circumstances. In order to ascertain
the individual nature of any determined element, factor, or
circumstance, it is maintained in the state of permanency, while
the accompanying elements, factors, or circumstances are eliminated
or changed; or, on the contrary, it may be eliminated or modified,
while the others remain constant. The four methods of induction
belong to this form of analysis. It is also in a large measure the
method of psychological experiment and of introspective analysis.
Finally, it may be impossible to effect any real dissociation of a
concrete thing or event, either because it cannot be reached or
controlled, or because it is past. Then mental dissociation and
abstraction are used. In a complex object the mind considers
separately some part or feature which cannot in reality be
separated. Analogy and comparison of such cases with similar
instances in which dissociation has been effected are of great
value, and the results already ascertained are applied to the case
under examination. This occurs frequently in physical and
psychological sciences; it is also the method used by the historian
or the sociologist in the study of events and institutions.
(2) When the complex is an idea, analysis consists in breaking it
up into simpler ideas. We are in the abstract order and must remain
therein; consequently, we do not take into consideration the
extension of an idea, that is, its range of applicability to
concrete things, but its intension, or connotation, that is, its
ideal contents. To analyze an idea is to single out in it other
ideas whose ideal complexity, or whose connotation is not so great.
The same must be said of analytical reasoning. The truth of a
proposition or of a complex statement is analytically demonstrated
by reverting from the proposition itself to higher principles, from
the complex statement to a more general truth. And this applies not
only to mathematics, when a given problem is solved by showing its
necessary connection with a proposition already demonstrated, or
with a self-evident axiom, but also to all the sciences in which
from the facts, the effects, and the conditioned we infer the law,
the cause, and the condition. Principle, law, cause, nature,
condition, are less complex than conclusion, fact, effect, action,
conditioned, since these are concrete applications and further
determinations of the former. A physical law, for instance, is a
simplified expression of all the facts which it governs. In one
word, therefore, we may characterize analysis as a process of
resolution and regression; synthesis, as a process of composition
arid progression.
The confusion that has existed and still exists in the definition
and use of the terms analysis and synthesis is due to the diverse
natures of the complexes which have to be analyzed. Moreover, the
same object may be analyzed from different points of view and,
consequently, with various results. It is especially important to
keep in mind the distinction between the connotation and the
denotation of an idea. As the two vary in inverse ratio, it is
clear that, in an idea, the subtraction of certain connotative
elements implies an increase in extension. Hence connotative
analysis is necessarily an extensive synthesis, and vice
versâ. Thus, if my idea of a child is that of "a
human being under a certain age", by connotative analysis I may
omit the last determination "under a certain age"; what remains is
less complex than the idea "child", but applies to a greater number
of individuals, namely to all human beings. In order to restrict
the extension to fewer individuals, the connotation must be
increased, that is, further determinations must be added. In the
same manner, a fact, when reduced to a law, either in the physical,
the mental, or the historical order, is reduced to something which
has a greater extension, since it is assumed to rule all the facts
of the same nature, but the law is less complex in connotation,
since it does not share the individual characters of the concrete
events.
The necessity of analysis comes from the fact that knowledge begins
with the perception of the concrete and the individual, and that
whatever is concrete is complex. Hence the mind, unable to
distinctly grasp the whole reality at once, must divide it, and
study the parts separately. Moreover the innate tendency of the
mind towards unification and classification leads it to neglect
certain aspects, so as to reach more general truths and laws whose
range of application is larger. The relative usefulness of analysis
and synthesis in the various sciences depends on the nature of the
problems to be solved, on the knowledge already at hand, on the
mind's attitude, and on the stage of development of the science.
Induction is primarily analytic; deduction, primarily synthetic. In
proportion as a natural science becomes more systematic, i. e. when
more general laws are formulated, the synthetic process is more
freely used. Previous analysis then enables one to "compose", or
deduce future experience. Where, on the contrary, the law has to be
discovered, observation and analysis are dominant, although, even
then, synthesis is indispensable for the verification of
hypotheses. Some sciences, such as Euclidean geometry, proceed
synthetically, from simple notions and axioms to more complex
truths. Analysis has the advantage of adhering more strictly to the
point under investigation; synthesis is in danger of going astray,
since from the same principle many different conclusions may be
drawn, and a multitude of real or possible events are governed by
the same law. For this same reason, however, synthesis, in certain
sciences at least, is likely to prove more fruitful than analysis.
It also has the advantage of starting from that which has a natural
priority, for the conditioned presupposes the condition. When the
result is already known, and the relation between a principle and
some one conclusion thus ascertained, synthesis is a great help in
teaching others. In synthesis the strictness of logical reasoning
is required. Accuracy and exactness in the observation of
phenomena, attention to all their details, the power of mental
abstraction and generalization are qualities indispensable in the
analytic process.
An analysis is a process of study or research. To do it is to split a complex idea into pieces to see how it is made up. It is the opposite of synthesis, which is to bring ideas together.
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