Conversion

Conversion is the process of changing something from one form, state, or condition to another. The term is used across many disciplines to describe transitions, often preserving some properties while altering others.

In science and mathematics, conversion commonly refers to changing measurements or quantities from one system to another. Unit conversion uses conversion factors to express a quantity in different units, such as meters to feet. Dimensional analysis relies on these factors to relate disparate units. In chemistry and physics, conversion describes transforming substances or energy, for example a chemical reaction that converts reactants to products or the conversion of kinetic energy to potential energy. The principle of conservation, such as energy conservation, underpins many conversions.

In computing and information technology, conversion means changing data representations. This includes data type conversion, encoding conversions between character sets, and file format conversions for audio, video, and documents. Software libraries and utilities provide mechanisms to automate these changes while preserving data integrity.

In finance and commerce, currency conversion turns amounts from one currency into another using exchange rates. Conversion features in financial instruments specify the terms for changing one asset into another at a defined rate or under set conditions.

In religion and culture, conversion refers to adopting a different religion or belief system, sometimes after personal study, exposure, or social influence. The term can also describe broader changes in cultural or personal identity.

In linguistics, conversion (also called zero-derivation) is a word-formation process in which a word shifts syntactic category without affixes, such as “to run” (verb) becoming “a run” (noun).