Bracketing

Bracketing is a term used in several disciplines to describe the use of brackets or a methodological practice of isolating a variable or range by intentionally setting boundaries. It can refer to both symbolic notation and practical techniques.

In photography and visual imaging, exposure bracketing involves taking a sequence of shots at different exposure levels around a metered exposure, to ensure one image is correctly exposed or to create high dynamic range (HDR) imagery. The approach is often automated in cameras, using predefined stop differences between shots.

In linguistics and grammar, bracketing refers to the use of bracket notation to represent the hierarchical structure of a sentence or phrase, showing how units such as words and phrases group together. This helps analysts visualize constituents and syntactic relationships, for example in tree-like representations or nested structures.

In philosophy, bracketing, or epoché, is the method of suspending judgment about the existence or nature of the external world to analyze the conditions of experience. Associated with phenomenology, it aims to examine consciousness without presuppositions about reality.

In mathematics and related fields, brackets denote grouping and denote intervals in set theory and analysis. Parentheses group terms for order of operations; square brackets and braces serve in matrices, floor/ceiling functions, or nested expressions. Interval notation uses brackets or parentheses to indicate inclusion or exclusion of endpoints.

In computing and programming, brackets determine array indices, list literals, or code blocks, with conventions varying by language. Parentheses often enclose function arguments, square brackets for indexing or arrays, and curly braces for blocks or scopes.

In editing, square brackets are used to insert clarifications or editorial notes within quotations, while parentheses provide supplementary information.