Fiducial
Encyclopedia
- In lawLawLaw is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
the term "fiducial" means "of or pertaining to a fiduciary".
- In imaging technologyImaging technologyImaging technology is the application of materials and methods to create, preserve or duplicate images. This can mean several things:*Computer graphics*Microfilm and Micrographics*Visual arts**Etching**Drawing and Technical drawing**Cinema**Painting...
, a fiduciary markerFiduciary markerA fiducial marker or fiducial is an object used in the field of view of an imaging system which appears in the image produced, for use as a point of reference or a measure...
or fiducial is an object used in the field of view of an imaging system which appears in the image produced, for use as a point of reference or a measure.
- "Fiducial" is also used for something taken as an origin or zero of reference. For example, the occurrence of a specified event in timeTimeTime is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
may be established by a number—representing, say, hour or date—obtained by counting from a fiducial epoch, such as a meridian passage of the sun or the birth of Christ. A fiducial point also figures in the calculation of astrological ages.
- The "fiducial edge" of an alidade is the place on the instrument at which one reads a scale or draws a line.
- In statisticsStatisticsStatistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
, fiducial inferenceFiducial inferenceFiducial inference is one of a number of different types of statistical inference. These are rules, intended for general application, by which conclusions can be drawn from samples of data. In modern statistical practice, attempts to work with fiducial inference have fallen out of fashion in...
is a form of interval estimationInterval estimationIn statistics, interval estimation is the use of sample data to calculate an interval of possible values of an unknown population parameter, in contrast to point estimation, which is a single number. Neyman identified interval estimation as distinct from point estimation...
developed by R.A. FisherRonald FisherSir Ronald Aylmer Fisher FRS was an English statistician, evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and geneticist. Among other things, Fisher is well known for his contributions to statistics by creating Fisher's exact test and Fisher's equation...
in connection with the Behrens–Fisher problem.
- In airborne geophysical surveys, a "fiducialFiduciary markerA fiducial marker or fiducial is an object used in the field of view of an imaging system which appears in the image produced, for use as a point of reference or a measure...
" is a shared sequential timing reference for geophysical measurements collected during a survey flight.
- In low-background physicsPhysicsPhysics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
experiments where a detecting medium exhibits self shielding properties a fiducial volume is defined as an interior volume of the detecting medium that excludes the most external portion of the detection medium where most background events will occur.