notazione

Notation, or notazione in Italian, refers to the act or system of representing ideas, objects, or relations by signs, symbols, or marks to encode information. It is used across many domains to facilitate communication, reasoning, and computation. A notational system is typically designed to be precise, repeatable, and portable.

In mathematics and logic, notation includes symbols, operators, and conventions that express relations and operations succinctly, such as the equals sign, plus and minus signs, exponents, summation, and set notation. In science, notation encompasses units, prefixes, constants, and standardized abbreviations used to report measurements and relations. In music, notation denotes pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and articulation with staff notation, clefs, notes, rests, and expressive marks.

In language and linguistics, phonetic and orthographic notations capture pronunciation and structure, with examples such as the International Phonetic Alphabet. In computing, programming languages, query languages, and regular expressions are formal notations defining syntax and semantics. Scientific notation also refers to compact representations of numbers, such as 3.2 × 10^4.

The history of notation extends from ancient counting marks and tallying to sophisticated systems in medieval music and early algebra. Modern mathematical notation crystallized through contributions across several centuries, while digital technologies have standardized character encoding with ASCII and Unicode, enabling cross-platform exchange of notations.

Effective notation balances clarity, conciseness, and learnability, while expanding as new ideas arise. Notation systems are evaluated on how well they convey information and how easily users can learn and apply them in practice.