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{{two other uses||data in computer science|Data (computing)}}
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(contracted; show full) gender|neuter]] [[past participle]] of the [[Latin]] ''dare'', "to give", hence "something given". In discussions of problems in [[geometry]], [[mathematics]], [[engineering]], and so on, the terms ''givens'' and ''data'' are used interchangeably. Such usage is the origin of ''data'' as a concept in [[computer science]] or [[data processing]]: data are numbers, words, images, etc., accepted as they stand.


==Usage in English==
In [[English language|English]], the word ''datum'' is still used in the general sense of "an item given".  In [[cartography]], [[geography]], [[nuclear magnetic resonance]] and [[technical drawing]] it is often used to refer to a single specific [[Datum reference|reference datum]] from which distances to all other data are measured. Any measurement or result is a ''datum'', but ''data point'' is more usual,<ref>
{{cite web
 |author=Matt Dye
 |year=2001
 |title=Writing Reports
 |url=http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/DeafStudiesTeaching/dissert/Writing%20Reports.htm
 |publisher=[[University of Bristol]]
}}</ref> albeit [[tautology (rhetoric)|tautological]] or, more generously,  [[pleonasm|pleonastic]]. Both ''datums'' (see usage in [[datum (geodesy)|datum]] article) and the originally Latin plural ''data'' are used as the plural of ''datum'' in English, but ''data'' is commonly treated as a [[mass noun]] and used with a verb in the [[Grammatical number|singular]] form, especially in day-to-day usage. For example, ''This is all the data from the experiment''. This usage is inconsistent with the rules of Latin grammar and traditional English (''These are all the data from the experiment''). Even when a very small quantity of data is referenced (one number, for example) the phrase ''piece of data'' is often used, as opposed to ''datum''. The debate over appropriate usage is ongoing.<ref>{{cite web |title=Data is a singular noun |url=http://nxg.me.uk/note/2005/singular-data/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Grammarist: Data |url=http://www.grammarist.com/usage/data/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Dictionary.com Data |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/data}}</ref>

The [[IEEE Computer Society]] allows usage of ''data'' as either a mass noun or plural based on author preference.<ref>
{{cite web
 |title=IEEE Computer Society Style Guide, DEF
 |url=http://www.computer.org/portal/web/publications/styleguidedef
 |publisher=IEEE Computer Society
}}</ref> Other professional organizations and style guides<ref>
{{cite web
 |year=2004
 |title=WHO Style Guide
 |url=http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2004/WHO_IMD_PUB_04.1.pdf
 |location=Geneva |publisher=[[World Health Organization]]
 |page=43
}}{{dead link|date=December 2010}}</ref> require that authors treat ''data'' as a plural noun. For example, the [[Air Force Flight Test Center]] specifically states that the word ''data'' is always plural, never singular.<ref>
{{cite book
 |title=The Author's Guide to Writing Air Force Flight Test Center Technical Reports
 |publisher=[[Air Force Flight Test Center]]
}}</ref>

''Data'' is most often used as a singular mass noun in educated everyday usage.<ref>New Oxford Dictionary of English, 1999</ref><ref>"...in educated everyday usage as represented by the Guardian newspaper, it is nowadays most often used as a singular." http://www.eisu2.bham.ac.uk/johnstf/revis006.htm</ref> Some major newspapers such as ''[[The New York Times]]'' use it either in the singular or plural. In the ''New York Times'' the phrases "the survey data are still being analyzed" and "the first year for which data is available" have appeared within one day.<ref>
*{{cite news
|year=2009
|title=When Serving the Lord, Ministers Are Often Found to Neglect Themselves
|publisher=New York Times
|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/us/10religion.html
}}
*{{cite news
|year=2009
|title=Investment Tax Cuts Help Mostly the Rich
|publisher=New York Times
|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/business/10charts.html
}}</ref> 
The ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' explicitly allows this in its style guide.<ref>
{{cite news
|year=2012
|title=Is Data Is, or Is Data Ain’t, a Plural?
|publisher=Wall Street Journal
|url=http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/07/05/is-data-is-or-is-data-aint-a-plural/
}}</ref>
In [[scientific writing]] ''data'' is often treated as a plural, as in ''These data do not support the conclusions'', but it is also used as a singular mass entity like ''information''. British usage now widely accepts treating ''data'' as singular in standard English,<ref>
{{cite dictionary
 |year=1999
 |encyclopedia=[[New Oxford Dictionary of English]]
}}</ref> including everyday newspaper usage<ref>
{{cite web
 |author=Tim Johns
 |year=1997
 |url=http://www.eisu2.bham.ac.uk/johnstf/revis006.htm
 |title=Data: singular or plural?
 |quote= ...in educated everyday usage as represented by [[The Guardian]] newspaper, it is nowadays most often used as a singular.
}}</ref> at least in non-scientific use.<ref>
{{cite dictionary
 |title=Data
 |url=http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/data?view=uk
 |encyclopedia=[[Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English|Compact Oxford Dictionary]]
}}</ref> UK scientific publishing still prefers treating it as a plural.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://www.eisu2.bham.ac.uk/johnstf/revis006.htm
 |title=Data: singular or plural?
 |publisher=[[Blair Wisconsin International University]]
}}</ref> Some UK university style guides recommend using ''data'' for both singular and plural use<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/public-affairs/uon-style-book/singular-plural.htm
 |title=Singular or plural
 |work=University of Nottingham Style Book
 |publisher=[[University of Nottingham]]
}}{{dead link|date=December 2010}}</ref> and some recommend treating it only as a singular in connection with computers.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url=http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=182902
 |title=Computers and computer systems
 |work=[[OpenLearn]]
}}{{dead link|date=December 2010}}</ref>⏎
⏎
==Meaning of data, information and knowledge==
The terms [[data]], [[information]] and [[knowledge]] are frequently used for overlapping concepts. The main difference is in the level of [[abstraction]] being considered.  Data is the lowest level of abstraction, information is the next level, and finally, knowledge is the highest level among all three.<ref>
{{cite web
 |author=Akash Mitra
 |year=2011
 |title=Classifying data for successful modeling
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