What is "norm"

Norm \Norm\, n. [L. norma a rule. See Normal, a.]

1. A rule or authoritative standard; a model; a type; as, deviations from the norm are not tolerated.

2. (Biol.) A typical, structural unit; a type.
   --Agassiz.

"standard, pattern, model," 1821, from French norme, from Latin norma "carpenter's square, rule, pattern," of unknown origin. Klein suggests a borrowing (via Etruscan) of Greek gnomon "carpenter's square." The Latin form of the word, norma, was used in English in the sense of "carpenter's square" from 1670s.

Etymology 1 n. (context usually definite '''the norm''' English) That which is regarded as normal or typical. Etymology 2

vb. (context analysis English) To endow (a vector space, etc) with a norm.

1. n. a standard or model or pattern regarded as typical; "the current middle-class norm of two children per family"

2. a statistic describing the location of a distribution; "it set the norm for American homes" [syn: average]

Norm or NORM may refer to:

A norm in chess is a high level of performance in a chess tournament. Several norms are one of the requirements to receive a title such as Grandmaster from FIDE.

Norms are cultural products (including values, customs, and traditions) which represent individuals' basic knowledge of what others do and think that they should do. Sociologists describe norms as informal understandings that govern individuals' behavior in society. On the other hand, social psychology has adopted a more general definition, recognizing smaller group units, such as a team or an office, may also endorse norms separate or in addition to cultural or societal expectations. In other words, norms are regarded to exist as collective representations of acceptable group conduct as well as individual perceptions of particular group conduct.

Furthermore, in the field of social psychology, the roles of norms are emphasized which can guide behavior in a certain situation or environment as "mental representations of appropriate behavior".Aarts, H., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2003). "The silence of the library: Environment, situational norm, and social behavior". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(1), 18–28. For example, it has been shown that normative messages can promote pro-social behavior, including decreasing alcohol use and increasing voter turnout and sustainability. According to the psychological definition of social norms' behavioral component, norms have two dimensions: how much a behaviour is exhibited, and how much the group approves of that behavior. Both of these dimensions can be used in normative messages to alter norms and subsequently alter behaviors; for example, a message can target the former dimension by describing high levels of voter turnout in order to encourage more turnout. At the same time, norms also can be changed contingent on the observed behavior of others (how much behavior is exhibited). In fact, in Sherif (1936), one confederate was able to affect the development of a group norm related to the autokinetic effect.

In linear algebra, functional analysis, and related areas of mathematics, a norm is a function that assigns a strictly positive length or size to each vector in a vector space—save for the zero vector, which is assigned a length of zero. A seminorm, on the other hand, is allowed to assign zero length to some non-zero vectors (in addition to the zero vector).

A norm must also satisfy certain properties pertaining to scalability and additivity which are given in the formal definition below.

A simple example is the 2-dimensional Euclidean space R equipped with the Euclidean norm. Elements in this vector space (e.g., ) are usually drawn as arrows in a 2-dimensional cartesian coordinate system starting at the origin . The Euclidean norm assigns to each vector the length of its arrow. Because of this, the Euclidean norm is often known as the magnitude.

A vector space on which a norm is defined is called a normed vector space. Similarly, a vector space with a seminorm is called a seminormed vector space. It is often possible to supply a norm for a given vector space in more than one way.

Norms are concepts ( sentences) of practical import, oriented to effecting an action, rather than conceptual abstractions that describe, explain, and express. Normative sentences imply "ought-to" types of statements and assertions, in distinction to sentences that provide "is" types of statements and assertions. Common normative sentences include commands, permissions, and prohibitions; common normative abstract concepts include sincerity, justification, and honesty. A popular account of norms describes them as reasons to take action, to believe, and to feel.

In mathematics, in the field of group theory, the norm of a group is the intersection of the normalizers of all its subgroups. This is also termed the Baer norm, after Reinhold Baer.

The following facts are true for the Baer norm:

• It is a characteristic subgroup.
• It contains the center of the group.
• It is contained inside the second term of the upper central series.
• It is a Dedekind group, so is either abelian or has a direct factor isomorphic to the quaternion group.
• If it contains an element of infinite order, then it is equal to the center of the group.

Norms can be considered from different perspectives in Artificial Intelligence to create computers and computer software that are capable of intelligent behaviour.

In Artificial Intelligence and Law, legal norms are considered in computational tools to automatically reason upon them. In Multi-Agent Systems (MAS), a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI), a norm is a guide for the common conduct of agents, thereby easing their decision-making, coordination and organization.

Since most problems concerning regulation of the interaction of autonomous agents are linked to issues traditionally addressed by legal studies, and since law is the most pervasive and developed normative system, efforts to account for norms in Artificial Intelligence and Law and in normative multi-agent systems often overlap.

Norm (based in Zurich, Switzerland), is an experimental graphic design team best known for their typography. Their most influential project is typography for Cologne Airport. It is co-founded by two Swiss designers Dimitri Bruni and Manuel Krebs. Their approach to typography is known to be very strict and rigorous with strong modernist features but with slight references to postmodernism. Some of their typefaces are Simple (designed independently and then adapted for the design of the Cologne Airport), Normetica, and Replica. Norm was featured in the 2005 documentary Helvetica directed by Gary Hustwit.

In mathematics, specifically abstract algebra, if (G, +) is an abelian group then $\scriptstyle \nu\colon G \to \mathbb{R}$ is said to be a norm on the abelian group (G, +) if:

1. ν(g) > 0  if  g ≠ 0,
2. ν(g + h) ≤ ν(g) + ν(h),
3. ν(mg) = ∣m∣ν(g)  if  m ∈ Z.

The norm ν is discrete if there is some real number ρ > 0 such that ν(g) > ρ whenever g ≠ 0.