Reduction

Reduction or reducing has several meanings:

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• In mathematics, reduction is the process of manipulating a series of equations or matrices into a desired 'simpler' format.
• In computational complexity theory, reduction is the transformation of an instance of one problem into an equivalent instance of another.
• In cooking, reduction is the process of thickening a liquid mixture such as a sauce by evaporation.
• In chemistry, reduction is the reverse of oxidation, i.e. the formal oxidation state of an atom (independent or within a molecule) is reduced by the addition of electrons. A reduced gas is thus hydrogen-rich.
• In philosophy, reduction is the process of explaining a particular phenomenon or subject matter in terms of more fundamental concepts, principles or elements.
• In linguistics, reduction is the shortening of the pronunciation of a word. e.g. wanna, lemme, gimme.
• In physiology, reduction or reducing is another name for weight loss or dieting.
• In orthopedic surgery, reduction is a medical procedure to restore a fracture to a correct alignment.
• In economics and in waste management, reduction is the process of decreasing the purchase of consumer goods.
• In descriptive set theory, the reduction property for a pointclass allows partitioning the union of two sets in the pointclass into two disjoint sets in the same pointclass.
• In Military Engineering reduction is the process of breaking down a fortification until it no longer offers a military threat.