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It's relatively new to me. When I was in college, books like "The Future of Data Analysis (JW Tukey, 1962) used "data is." I believe all of my CS textbooks trea
by innocentoldguy 4y ago
It's relatively new to me. When I was in college, books like "The Future of Data Analysis (JW Tukey, 1962) used "data is." I believe all of my CS textbooks treated the word "data" as a singular collection back then. I've only noticed the ubiquitousness of "data are" in engineering books since the turn of the century.
It could be a false memory though, which is why I'm asking.
- detaro 4y agoMy impression from styleguides etc is that the singular form is the newer one, and in some cases only somewhat begrudgingly accepted. E.g. recommendations that it is acceptable to use singular when writing for a "general audience", not in "formal or scientific writing", others referring to plural as "still in common use" (but singular taking over). But maybe there's been indeed a return to it in this specific field? not sure.
- innocentoldguy 4y agoThanks for the explanation. +1.
- dagss 4y agoData is the latin plural of the latin word datum...which for some reason is out of use and we now call that "data point". Anyway, "data" as plural is a couple of thousands years old.
- innocentoldguy 4y agoYes. I mentioned this (and a comparison to the way we use agenda vs. agendum) in my original post.