normalization

n. act of making normal; process of establishing normal diplomatic relations between two countries (also normalisation)

Broadly, normalization (also spelled normalisation) is any process that makes something more normal, which typically means conforming to some regularity or rule, or returning from some state of abnormality. It has specific meanings in various fields:Database normalization, used in database theory. (See also denormalization)Normalisation of a wavefunction in quantum mechanicsNormalisation (people with disabilities) Normalizing constant, used in mathematics, perhaps most often in  probability theoryNormalization (audio)Normalization (Czechoslovakia), the restoration of the conditions prevalent before the reform in Czechoslovakia, 1969Normalization (economics), which pertains when only relative prices matterNormalization (image processing)Normalization (metallurgy)Normalization (sociology)Normalization (statistics)Normalization model (visual neuroscience)Normalization of a function (in general calculus) is the process of  removing a discontinuity (or singularity).Normalization property, used in Raymond's term rewriting systemsText normalization
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Noun
1. the imposition of standards or regulations; "a committee was appointed to recommend terminological standardization"
(synonym) standardization, standardisation, normalisation
(hypernym) social control
(hyponym) stabilization, stabilisation
(derivation) normalize, normalise, renormalize, renormalise

(n.)
Reduction to a standard or normal state.
  

Adjusting a series (vector) of values (typically representing a set of measurements, e.g., a variable storing heights of people, represented in inches) according to some transformation function in order to make them comparable with some specific point of reference (for example, a unit of length or a sum). For example, dividing these values by 2.54 will produce metric measurements of the height. Normalization of data is:
(a) required when the incompatibility of the measurement units across variables may affect the results (e.g., in calculations based on cross products) without carrying any interpretable information, and
(b) recommended whenever the final reports could benefit from expressing the results in specific meaningful/compatible units (e.g., reaction time data will be easier to interpret when converted into milliseconds from the CPU cycles of different computers that were used to measure RT's - as originally registered in a medical experiment).
Note that this term is unrelated to the term normal distribution ; see also standardization .