Epitome

An epitome (/ᵻˈpɪtəmiː/; Greek: ἐπιτομή, from ἐπιτέμνειν epitemnein meaning "to cut short") is a summary or miniature form; an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment. Epitomacy represents, "to the degree of." An abridgment differs from an epitome in that an abridgment is made of selected quotations of a larger work; no new writing is composed, as opposed to the epitome, which is an original summation of a work, at least in part.

Many documents from the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds survive now only "in epitome", referring to the practice of some later authors (epitomators) who wrote distilled versions of larger works now lost. Some writers attempted to convey the stance and spirit of the original, while others added further details or anecdotes regarding the general subject. As with all secondary historical sources, a different bias not present in the original may creep in.

Documents surviving in epitome differ from those surviving only as fragments quoted in later works, and those used as unacknowledged sources by later scholars, as they can stand as discrete documents, albeit refracted through the views of another author.

Epitome (disambiguation)

An epitome (pronounced  /ɪˈpɪt.ə.mi/ ; originally from the Ancient Greek ἐπιτομή epitomḗ meaning "abridgment" or "cut") is a summary or miniature form of a text. The word is also commonly used to label something or someone considered to be a prime or the best example of something (as in, for example, "She looked the epitome of haute couture"). It may otherwise refer to:

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Epitome (data processing)

An epitome, in data processing, is a condensed digital representation of the essential statistical properties of ordered datasets such as matrices that represent images, audio signals, videos or genetic sequences. Although much smaller than the data, the epitome contains many of its smaller overlapping parts with much less repetition and with some level of generalization. As such, it can be used in tasks such as data mining, machine learning and signal processing.

The first use of epitomic analysis was with image textures for the purposes of image parsing. Epitomes have also been used in video processing to replace, remove or superresolve imagery.

Epitomes are also being investigated as tools for vaccine design.

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