unary
- noun
- /ˈjunəˌrē/
- Specialized
:
unario
- To understand unary operations, consider how the numeral one is represented simply by a single mark.
Examples
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We don't want to write the number in unary, you know, just as a writing the number K as a sequence of K ones.
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The E-R modeling representation was more effective for binary and simple ternary associations, but less effective for the modeling of unary associations, complex ternary associations, and primary keys.
Academic text (1993) -
The types of errors included reversing one-to-many associations, replacing many-to-many associations with one-to-many associations, and adding an additional data item to unary associations.
Academic text (1993) -
In the unary numeral system, the number five is represented by five consecutive symbols, such as five ones.
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When using unary, a value of three translates to three symbols denoting one each in a sequence.
Synonyms
A system that shows numbers by using one mark for each unit like tally marks
Compounds
- Specialized
A system that shows numbers by using one mark for each unit like tally marks
Surface Forms
Morphology
unary = un (semi-transparent) = un + ary
The meaning is somewhat transparent for those familiar with 'un-' as 'one' and '-ary' as 'relating to', but the technical mathematical sense is specialized.
Etymology
Unary comes from the Latin unus meaning 'one', the same root as English unit. Think of counting with tally marks: a unary number is written by repeating a single mark for each item, so the system literally counts by ones, which is why it is called unary.
