partitioned

Partitioned generally means divided into parts or sections. As a term, it describes an object that has been separated into distinct partitions for organization, isolation, or parallel processing. In mathematics, a partition of a set is a collection of nonempty, pairwise disjoint subsets whose union is the entire set; a partitioned set thus represents the original elements as grouped blocks.

In computing, partitioning is a method for organizing data, storage, or work by splitting it into partitions. Partitioned databases or tables divide rows according to a partitioning key, enabling improved query performance, easier maintenance, and targeted data management. Common partitioning schemes include range partitioning (by value intervals such as dates), list partitioning (by explicit values), and hash partitioning (by a hash function). Composite partitioning combines methods, such as range-hash. Partition pruning allows queries to skip irrelevant partitions to speed up execution. Local and global partitioning describe how partitions relate to constraints and indexes across the whole dataset.

Partitioning also applies to storage and file systems. Disk partitioning divides a physical drive into independent regions, each with its own filesystem, aiding data organization, boot management, and backup strategies. Partitioned file systems and logical volume management can support flexible allocation and maintenance of storage resources.

In parallel and distributed computing, partitioning refers to dividing a workload or dataset into parts processed independently, with the aim of reducing interdependencies and balancing compute resources. Effective partitioning improves scalability and performance, while improper partitioning can increase communication overhead or data skew.