Splitting

Splitting is the act of dividing or separating something into parts or components. The concept appears in many disciplines and can describe physical division, fragmentation of ideas, or the distribution of resources.

In mathematics, splitting often refers to decomposing an object into simpler pieces. A splitting field of a polynomial is the smallest field over which the polynomial factors completely into linear factors. A short exact sequence splits when the middle term is isomorphic to a direct sum of the outer terms.

In biology, splitting commonly refers to cell division. Binary fission in prokaryotes produces two daughter cells, while mitosis followed by cytokinesis in eukaryotes yields two or more daughter cells as part of tissue growth and reproduction.

In psychology, splitting is a defense mechanism in which perceptions of self and others are alternately viewed as all good or all bad. It can contribute to unstable relationships and is often discussed in the context of certain personality patterns.

In computing, string splitting is a standard operation that divides a text into substrings based on a delimiter, producing a list or array of parts for easier processing.

In geology and materials science, splitting can describe fracture or separation along planes of weakness, such as cleavage in rocks or fracture in metals under stress.

The term is also used in everyday language to denote division, such as the split of a bill or a group into subgroups, and in business to describe corporate reorganizations or asset splits.