Dots

Dots are small, round marks that appear across languages, sciences, and everyday notation as points, symbols, or decorative elements. They can function as punctuation, as a component of writing systems, or as simple markers in data and diagrams.

In writing, a dot most often signals a period or full stop. A decimal point uses a dot to separate whole numbers from fractions. An ellipsis is three dots indicating omitted material. In many languages, letters such as i and j carry a dot above them (tittle), and diacritical dots appear in various scripts to indicate pronunciation differences.

In mathematics and computing, the dot has several specialized roles. The dot product combines two vectors into a scalar. In programming languages, a dot is used for member access or property lookup (dot notation). In regular expressions, a dot matches any single character unless escaped. For digital addresses, dots separate domain labels in URLs and email domains, while dots in file names separate base names from extensions.

Dots also feature in data visualization and interpretation. Dot plots and scatter plots use dots to represent observations or data points, enabling quick assessment of distributions and relationships.

Additional uses span biology, music, and art. Braille represents letters and numbers with patterns of raised dots for tactile reading. In music, a dot after a note extends its duration. In art and printing, dots contribute to techniques like pointillism or influence color reproduction and dot gain in printing processes.