Ülevoolu

Ülevoolu is the genitive form of ülevool, an Estonian term for overflow. It denotes a situation where a quantity exceeds the capacity of a system, container or data type, causing spillover, information loss, or erroneous results. The concept appears in several fields, including computing, mathematics, and hydrology.

In computing, ülevool refers to results that do not fit the representable range of a storage unit. With fixed-width integers, addition or multiplication can wrap around when the maximum value is exceeded. For example, in an 8-bit unsigned integer, 255 + 1 may yield 0. In signed integers, overflow can produce abnormal values such as −128 on two's complement systems. Floating-point overflow, per IEEE 754, typically yields infinity or a very large number, depending on the operation. Programming languages handle overflow in different ways; some detect and raise errors, others wrap around, and some use saturation in specific contexts.

In hydrology and civil engineering, ülevoolu describes water that flows over the edge of a container, channel, dam, or levee when capacity is exceeded. Such overflow is a natural part of river and flood processes and is a design consideration in spillways, reservoirs, and drainage systems to prevent uncontrolled water damage elsewhere.

Preventing and managing overflow involves checks before arithmetic, using larger or arbitrary-precision types, applying saturation or clamping, and designing systems with sufficient capacity or controlled discharge. See also: overflow, spillway, modular arithmetic.