Parity
In mathematics, parity refers to the evenness or oddness of an integer, which for a binary number is determined only by the least significant bit. In telecommunications and computing, parity refers to the evenness or oddness of the number of bits with value one within a given set of bits, and is thus determined by the value of all the bits. It can be calculated via an XOR sum of the bits, yielding 0 for even parity and 1 for odd parity. This property of being dependent upon all the bits and changing value if any one bit changes allows for its use in error detection schemes.
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Famous quotes containing the word parity:
“The U.S. is becoming an increasingly fatherless society. A generation ago, an American child could reasonably expect to grow up with his or her father. Today an American child can reasonably expect not to. Fatherlessness is now approaching a rough parity with fatherhood as a defining feature of American childhood.”
—David Blankenhorn (20th century)