Differensen

The term differensen is used in Nordic languages to denote the concept of "the difference," and it appears in mathematical and everyday language to express the distinction between two quantities, numbers, or sets.

In arithmetic, the difference of two numbers a and b is a − b. The absolute difference |a − b| is the non-negative distance between a and b and is symmetric: |a − b| = |b − a|, though a − b is not equal to b − a unless a = b.

In set theory, the set difference A \ B is the elements in A not in B. The difference operator also generalizes to vectors and sequences: the component-wise difference x − y; finite differences Δx_n = x_n − x_{n−1} are used in discrete calculus and numerical methods.

In statistics and data analysis, differences describe change over time or between groups; differences in distributions can be quantified by measures such as differences in means, percent difference, or effect size. The term also refers to distinguishing features or contrasts in qualitative analysis, such as identifying what sets items, ideas, or groups apart.

See also: subtraction, absolute value, distance, set difference, finite difference, derivative.