Background for indexes

indexes

/ˈɪndɛksɪz/

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noun

An alphabetical listing of items and their location.

Examples :

"The index of a book lists words or expressions and the pages of the book upon which they are to be found."

list writing item organization business computing technology info

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noun

The index finger; the forefinger.

Examples :

"She pointed to the book with one of her indexes. "

body part physiology

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noun

A movable finger on a gauge, scale, etc.

Examples :

"The technician carefully adjusted the machine until the indexes on the dial lined up with the correct pressure readings. "

device machine part

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noun

A symbol resembling a pointing hand, used to direct particular attention to a note or paragraph.

Examples :

"The professor used small hand-drawn indexes in the margin of her textbook to mark important formulas. "

sign writing communication direction mark

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noun

That which points out; that which shows, indicates, manifests, or discloses.

Examples :

"The old maps served as indexes to hidden trails in the forest. "

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noun

A sign; an indication; a token.

Examples :

"The declining test scores were indexes of a larger problem with the teaching methods. "

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noun

A type of noun where the meaning of the form changes with respect to the context. E.g., 'Today's newspaper' is an indexical form since its referent will differ depending on the context. See also icon and symbol.

Examples :

"Calendars and clocks are common indexes, as their meaning depends on the current date and time. "

linguistics philosophy language communication word

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noun

A single number calculated from an array of prices or of quantities.

Examples :

"The economic indexes showed a slight increase in consumer spending last month. "

statistics economy finance business math

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noun

A number representing a property or ratio, a coefficient.

Examples :

"The cost of living indexes show that prices have increased significantly this year. "

math number statistics

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noun

A raised suffix indicating a power.

Examples :

"In the equation "x squared," the "2" is written as one of the indexes, indicating x is raised to the power of two. "

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noun

An integer or other key indicating the location of data e.g. within an array, vector, database table, associative array, or hash table.

Examples :

"The teacher uses student ID numbers as indexes to quickly find each student's grade in the database. "

computing technical math system structure number list internet electronics statistics logic info machine science

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noun

A data structure that improves the performance of operations on a table.

Examples :

"To quickly find student records, the school database uses indexes on student IDs and last names. "

computing technology structure technical

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noun

A prologue indicating what follows.

Examples :

"Here are the indexes to the report; they outline the main topics and page numbers. "

literature writing word

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verb

To arrange an index for something, especially a long text.

Examples :

"The librarian indexed the new collection of historical documents. "

writing communication language literature organization computing info

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verb

To inventory, to take stock.

Examples :

"The librarian indexes new books as they arrive so they can be easily found. "

business list work item organization economy

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verb

To normalise in order to account for inflation; to correct for inflation by linking to a price index in order to maintain real levels.

Examples :

"The government indexes social security payments each year to ensure that retirees can still afford the same basic goods and services despite rising prices. "

economy finance business

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verb

To be indexical for (some situation or state of affairs); to indicate.

Examples :

"The rising fever indexes his worsening flu. "

sign communication linguistics language

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verb

To access a value in a data container by an index.

Examples :

"The programmer indexes the array to retrieve the second item. "

computing technology technical