sig

Sig is an abbreviation that appears in many domains, and there is no single definition. It commonly stands for signature in contexts related to documents, agreements, and electronic communications. A signature can be a handwritten mark or a digital signature created with cryptographic methods to verify authenticity and integrity of data.

In organizational contexts, SIG is widely used as an acronym for Special Interest Group: a subgroup within a larger organization formed to discuss and advance a topic of shared interest, such as a SIG in professional associations like the ACM or IEEE.

In statistics and research reporting, sig is shorthand for significance, indicating that a result meets a threshold for statistical significance (often expressed with a p-value). The term appears in tables and text as 'sig' or in notations like 'p < 0.05', with researchers noting which results are significant.

In computing, SIG is used as a prefix for POSIX signals, a mechanism by which the operating system notifies a process of asynchronous events. Examples include SIGINT to interrupt, SIGTERM to request termination, and SIGCHLD when a child process exits. These identifiers are typically written in uppercase and used in code and system documentation.

Capitalization and usage vary by domain, and context is essential to determine the meaning. The same form "sig" can refer to a signature, a SIG acronym, or a statistical note, depending on the field.