scalesfrom

Scalesfrom is a term that appears in software documentation and code as an identifier for an operation that scales values based on a specified source range or origin. It is not a standard mathematical term with a universal definition, and its meaning can vary across projects. In practice, scalesfrom is often used to denote a linear scaling process or a similar transformation that maps data from a source interval to a target interval, or to apply a scale derived from a reference distribution.

Common usage in code involves scalesfrom as a function name or parameter. A typical form is scalesfrom(x, source_min, source_max, target_min, target_max), which implements the linear transformation y = (x − source_min) × (target_max − target_min) / (source_max − source_min) + target_min. Another variant is scalesfrom(value, origin, scale), which expresses y = origin + value × scale, representing scaling around an origin.

In data processing and machine learning, scalesfrom is often associated with normalization or feature scaling, where scaling parameters are computed from training data and then applied to new data to ensure consistent ranges. It may also appear in audio, graphics, or sensor data pipelines where signals or measurements are mapped from one range to another.

Etymology and variants: The term is formed from the verb “scale” and the preposition “from,” reflecting the notion of applying a scale derived from a source. As a non-standard term, its exact meaning depends on the specific project, library, or context in which it is used.

See also: scaling, normalization, min–max scaling, linear transformation, data preprocessing.