reducing

Reducing refers to the act or process of making something smaller, less in amount, degree, or complexity. It is used across disciplines and everyday language to describe decreases in size, quantity, or impact, as well as transformations that change a substance to a lower state or form.

Chemistry and physics: In chemistry, reduction denotes a gain of electrons or a decrease in oxidation state, typically contrasted with oxidation. Substances that cause reduction are called reducing agents. Common reductions include conversion of metal oxides to metals and hydrogenation. Redox reactions involve simultaneous oxidation and reduction.

Mathematics and computer science: In mathematics, reduction means simplifying an expression to lowest terms, such as reducing a fraction by dividing numerator and denominator by their greatest common divisor. In computation, reductions show how one problem can be transformed into another, a concept used to compare problem difficulty.

Data science and statistics: Dimensionality reduction refers to techniques that reduce the number of random variables under consideration, preserving structure (e.g., PCA, t-SNE). Data reduction also includes sampling and compression methods to reduce storage or transmission requirements.

Environmental and policy contexts: Reducing energy use, emissions, and waste is a primary goal of sustainability efforts, often articulated in the slogan reduce, reuse, recycle.

Linguistics: In speech, reducing refers to phonetic reductions such as vowel shortening or elision in rapid or casual speech.