Characteristic

Characteristic (from the Greek word for a property, attribute or trait of an entity) may refer to:

In physics and engineering, any characteristic curve that shows the relationship between certain input and output parameters, for example:

• I–V or current–voltage characteristic, the current in a circuit as a function of the applied voltage
• Receiver operating characteristic

In navigation:

• Light characteristic, pattern of a lighted beacon

In mathematics:

• Characteristic (algebra) of a ring, the smallest common cycle length of the ring's addition operation
• Characteristic function, usually the indicator function of a subset, though the term has other meanings in specific domains
• Characteristic polynomial, a polynomial associated to a square matrix in linear algebra
• Characteristic vector (disambiguation), another name for eigenvector of a matrix
• Characteristic value, another name for eigenvalue of a matrix
• Characteristic word, a subclass of Sturmian word
• Euler characteristic, a topological invariant
• Characteristic subgroup, a subgroup that is invariant under all automorphisms in group theory
• Method of characteristics, a technique for solving partial differential equations
• Characteristic (logarithm), integer part of a common logarithm

In computing:

• Characteristic (biased exponent), an ambiguous term formerly used by some authors to specify some type of exponent of a floating point number
• Characteristic (significand), an ambiguous term formerly used by some authors to specify the significand of a floating point number

In other uses:

• Another name for ability score in Dungeons & Dragons

See also

• Characteristicks, a philosophical treatise by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury published in 1711